His Best Girl
by iluvaqt
Summary: AU Marvel Cinematic Universe. Captain America/Avengers/Thor/MiB/Ant-Man/Arrow crossover. Felicity moves to New York after the Glades collapse. A chance run-in at the Buy More with Steve Rogers, changes her world and sets her on a path of discovery that has been kept secret since before she was born.
1. Introduction

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of these characters and I make references to canon events of comics, movies and the Arrow show, frequently. Feel free to yell out when you notice something familiar. The only original thought I can share is how I didn't know this was even a ship till someone brought it to my attention, now I it's all I think about in fandom. :P

::: ::: :::

SHIELD was in shambles. Fury doing his one-eye sneaky spy thing, Natasha was off discovering who she wanted to be and the Avengers well, the Avengers were still working on being a team. It was a work in progress. With very little forward movement considering everyone had their own pet projects on the go that really didn't involve the others.

They had met by chance. She was working at the local Buy More in their tech division. Sam knew a lot more about computers and the Internet than he did and between them that amounted to not much. They'd spent the last few weeks combing through online news archives for possible Winter Soldier clues. Natasha had given them a starting point with the old KGB dossier but they needed more to be able to build a full profile. Now that he was sure Bucky was still under the surface he could add what he knew of his old friend's behavior to help them predict his possible movements.

They also needed to find a way to get access to international criminal databases for any information they had on the Winter Soldier.

Steve had been browsing laptops muttering to himself when she appeared.

"If you're planning on hacking German Intelligence, you're going to need a custom build, several routers, a Doomsday firewall and gamer fingers." Her eyes widened comically when he turned his gaze on her. "Not that I would know," she said quickly. "You're Captain America," she stage whispered comically. "Sorry. You're obviously going for incog and I just blew your cover. I'm such a huge fan. Thank you for saving New York. My cousin lives here, and I just moved here to be closer to him and he'd be dead or enslaved if it weren't for you and, Thor and Iron Man. Hulk and how could I forget Black Widow, oh my gosh, she's so awesome. I mean I saw that YouTube video of how she got up to Stark Tower and she's just fearless. I'm terrified of heights, I couldn't do what she did. Not in a million years. And you didn't come here to listen to another Fan girl ramble. I'm gonna stop is 3-2-1. So would you like me to build you a super computer?"

Steve smiled at her reddened cheeks, amazed she had got that all out without seeming to take a breath. "What no love for the Archer?" She made a face like she'd tasted something bitter in the air. "Is it the tights or the arrows," he jested. Truly curious over how she could gush over all the other Avengers who had saved New York bar their very own Legolas.

"He reminds me of someone… Who.. Well he left me… I mean us… The city… Never mind," she said lifting her chin and shaking off whatever trail of thought she'd been heading down. "Word is that your archer was partially to blame for the chaos."

"Alien mind control," Steve said firmly defending his team mate. "He broke its hold and more than made up for it, standing shoulder to shoulder with us taking on that invading alien army."

Felicity squared her shoulders and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I'm not usually judgemental. He hits a sore point." She glanced away at the help desk to make sure her boss had things under control and didn't think she was slacking. "I have a blind spot for killer smiles and blondes, apparently," she muttered under her breath.

Steve grinned even wider hearing her words. The serum had enhanced everything, including his hearing. "I have access to a super computer actually. Tony Stark, self promoting tech genius."

Felicity blushed again and blinked rapidly, biting her lower lip briefly, considering him carefully. "Then what is Steve Rogers, the man who's got friends in high places, roomies with a billionaire, if you believe the tabloids doing at the local Buy More? Any Stark tech would be years ahead of anything we stock."

"Maybe I came for the tech help," he suggested cheekily. Natasha was always trying to set him up on dates making wild suggestions, there was something about this girl that just drew him. Maybe it was her uncensored manner. She was so unguarded compared to the company he usually kept. He could read her every expression and she certainly told him everything on her mind. It was refreshing and addicting. He found himself wanting to get to know her. If only to see what else she would say that would make him inadvertently fight a grin that made his cheeks ache. If felt like it had been decades since he'd used those muscles. Truth was, it probably had been.

"I get off in about an hour. If you want help in your quest to uncover the world's dirty dark secrets, I might be able to help," she said in a low voice.

Steve felt his lips twitch. "Can I get a name to go with the coffee date?"

Felicity smiled at him and extended her hand. "Felicity Smoak, retired hacker, Buy More Nerd."

"You know my names, but let's just stick with Steve." He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. She giggled.

"Okay Steve. I'll see you at the corner shop in an hour, and I'll bring my tech. You say Stark is the best, he hasn't been Smoaked yet."

As she walked away to help another customer, Steve couldn't help but muse to himself that this woman was going to be a game changer for him. Maybe for all of them.


	2. First Date

**Summary:** Steve and Felicity meet for coffee. A.K.A The first date.

 **::: ::: :::**

Punching out was always a relief at the end of a long shift but today held an extra thrill. Which had an edge that tipped on the side of anxiety. She hadn't planned on dating. This move was about finding out who Felicity Smoak was. Just like with Cooper and the Hacktivists in college she had inadvertently lost herself in Oliver's crusade. It had consumed her off hours and had even spilled into her days at times. In the beginning she swore to help him, but only to find Walter, who she knew was innocent and caught up in a high stakes game in which he was a pawn. After he was found, she had stayed when she realized that under the scruff, ill-temper and terrible lies, Oliver was someone scared, bitter and beaten down but genuinely trying to make their city safer, to fight against corruption, take out the thugs and murderers to save lives. So she had stayed. And instead of just believing in the cause, she had gone and fallen for the dark hero. It was her teen years all over again. Crushing and falling fast for the impassioned crusader. Then he was gone, and she was alone.

As she brushed out her hair and fixed the strap poking out from under the neckline of her sundress, she stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

What was she thinking? What did she have in common with a man like Steve Rogers? He was Captain America. A war hero. America's Super Soldier. There was an entire memorial wing in The Smithsonian dedicated to him and his team. He probably had girls throwing themselves at him, propositioning him on a regular basis. And she was mortified to realize that it probably seemed to him, that she was just another one. And he'd simply been polite. This was a business exchange. She'd pimped out her hacker skills and he'd accepted. Her flirting had been unintentional but from an outsider's perspective hardly subtle. If she had thought her crush on Oliver was pathetic, one-sided and totally outside the realm of possibility, then this had a snowball's chance in hell. Her brain had latched on to his utterance of date and hit the ground running. She needed to rein her Fangirl in big time if she wanted to be a professional about this. It was just like the first time she met Oliver. He was there for her expertise.

She closed her eyes and held the sink as her mind took her back to the night she'd last seen Oliver. They'd lost communication after the quake. The rumbling finally stopped but the lair's lights continued to flicker overhead before finally going dark. She waited, ten minutes, thirty minutes, an hour. He never came. She was alone. Forgotten in the damaged, cold, structurally questionable old steel-works factory, running on back up power while the streets above her were filled with screams of the helpless, injured and terrified. Diggle had come for her when he managed to fight his was through the chaos in the Glades. No one knew where Oliver was or how to find him. She had tried to go on with her routine, wake up, dress and go to work like normal but she kept expecting him to show up. What was still standing in the Glades fell to looting and vandalism. It wasn't safe to travel through the area alone. She found herself checking her phone several times a day waiting for a text or a call. Seeing news about Moira Queen's arrest and pending hearing, she kept thinking he would show. She even traced his phone to discover he'd left it in his office at Verdant.

It was only when he didn't show for Tommy's funeral that it finally hit her that he wasn't coming back. Thea was left to stand without her brother. Walter had come as a sign of respect and a quiet show of parental support but Thea hadn't reached out to him. It was a small consolation to see that Roy stuck it out, even with all the negative media surrounding the Queens and stood by his girlfriend.

It had been weighing on her mind for the past few months to go to New York after the near miss the city had, had with that freak alien attack. It so was surreal. She had called Kay and he said he was fine but her uncle/second cousin was a tough as nails character and nothing could slow him down or get him to admit his age. He'd had walking pneumonia once and it was only her mom flying over there and forcing him to stay house bound for a week that had gotten him through it.

With her mind made up, she'd packed up her desk and handed in her resignation. She had gone without any plans beyond seeing Kay and leaving Starling. That was a month ago. Things hadn't improved in Starling since then. Oliver was still missing, the police were doing their best to maintain order in the Glades but it looked like vigilantes were popping up all over and threatening the upper class citizens of Starling, and Moira was going to trial in a few months. Diggle kept her updated but so far he hadn't asked her to come back. And she wondered what she would say if he did.

She retouched her fuchsia shade lipstick and dotted a touch of jasmine oil on her pulse points. Zipping everything back into her bag, she squared her shoulders and told herself she was meeting a nice guy for coffee and to talk shop, nothing more. As she walked out of the staff entrance of the Buy More and down the lane to the corner shop, she knew from the twisting in her stomach that her pep talk hadn't worked.

When she walked in, her heart skipped and tightened in her chest. Her scan of the tables told her he wasn't there. Biting down on her lower lip she told herself it was for the best. What would they even talk about? He was from a different era. He was a celebrated veteran and technically older than her grandfather.

She felt a warm presence at her back and the clean, citrus scent of soap and a hint of leather filled her nose. Butterflies fluttered in her chest and she turned slowly, a blush staining her cheeks. "I thought I was going to have to fill a corner booth all on my lonesome."

He flashed her a blinding smile and she fought to remember to breathe. "I like to keep my dates," he said seriously, his eyes betraying a hint of sorrow. "What would you like to have?"

"Oh I can grab my own, thank you..."

"Felicity," he said while catching her elbow. "This is a date. And where I'm from, a gentleman never lets his lady get the check."

Felicity bit her lip, flashed him a smile and nodded quickly. "Okay. A chai latte with no extra sugar, please. And a scone with jam, no cream. Thank you," she added shyly. He smiled her and turned to the barista to place their order.

She waited next to him and watched him from under her lashes. He was so deliberate in all his movements. He kept himself between her and the door and windows and all times, like a human shield. She had been around Oliver and Digg enough to pick up on what he was doing. His eyes darted very quickly around the room taking in every exit and every staff member and patron, scanning for potential threats and how to make a quick escape. His hand rested lightly at the small of her back and she let him lead in choosing their table. He picked her favorite spot without even asking. She wondered if from a strategic point of view, if it was the best spot. They were definitely close to the bathroom and tucked in a corner, and they could see the door. But she always chose it because it was the quietest spot in the bustling coffee house.

When she hesitated in taking a seat, she noticed him frown and hurried to reassure him over the reason for her pause. "I usually sit facing the door with my back to the wall but if you prefer to have an unobstructed view then I can..." She made a switching motion with her hands and his lips twitched in understanding.

"I'll be fine. The back wall is reflective. And I want you to be comfortable too."

Felicity dropped her bag in the corner and scooted into the booth. "I hope you don't mind me kicking off my shoes but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what shoes I'm wearing or how much the shoe salesmen tell you they're cushioned in-soles, my feet are killing me," she pleaded.

Steve's eyes crinkled at the corners and he had to stifle an outright laugh. "Absolutely. I've never worn heels so I can only imagine the pain they inflict. Although come to think of it, my mother did go around the house in slippers a lot."

"Oh, I wear trainers at work. I think I'd be out of a job if I wore heels and had to be on my feet all day."

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but why a department store? You look like you would be at home in design or research, you seem to know a lot about computers."

Felicity shrugged. "Saturated job market and no references. My immediate boss and I didn't get along and the top boss, well, I kinda left on short notice and there was a lot of corporate restructuring going on at the time... Queen Consolidated doesn't have the same pull it used to right now."

Steve sat forward and frowned. "You come from Starling? You were there when the earthquake device went off?"

Felicity swallowed hard and nodded. To a stranger, having worked for Queen Consolidated and leaving so soon after the quake couldn't look good. "I was. I was actually in the Glades when it happened," she said quietly. "A friend of mine watched his friend die. After that, well he took it hard and he left. I guess it turned me around a bit because I left too in the end. Does that make me a bad person, that I just left? I mean so many people lost their homes, family... I.. I lost him but he wasn't really anything. We weren't anything. He was just a friend," she stumbled over the words and caught herself. She watched his expression, many emotions flickering over his face before one settled, compassion.

He took her hand carefully and squeezed it lightly. "Everyone deals with loss differently. Living your life how you choose when it's not hurting anyone isn't selfish, Felicity."

She smiled at him weakly, still feeling a little guilty for abandoning their crusade. But really without Oliver, what could she do? She wasn't a billionaire that could donate resources to rebuilding and emergency relief. She wasn't a fighter, someone who could don a mask and help keep order, she wasn't a politician or a lawyer who could lobby for change. Without Oliver there was no Team Arrow.

"You don't have to help everyone in the world to be a good person. You choose to make a difference with first challenging yourself every day. Be the best person you can be. Help those who need it, where you can. Protect those that can't protect themselves."

Felicity smiled. "Coming from you, that must be the truth," she winked at him playfully.

Steve blushed and dropped his hand away as their drinks and dishes were served. "You're remarkably candid. It's a rare quality in my line of work."

"Not everyone appreciates my candor, Mr. Rogers. So thank you for remarking on it."

Steve cracked a wide grin at the twinkle in her magnetic blue eyes. "You're welcome, Miss Smoak. Now what was this about helping me crack German secrets," he stage whispered, after their server moved out of earshot.

"Give me a name, ten minutes and I'll find you whatever you want to know."

::: ::: :::

The ten minutes turned into an hour and to avoid suspicion, they moved their spying to another free WI-FI spot to continue their searching.

Two hours later her portable hard drive was protesting all the data she had collected and they'd almost been caught out by one of the vendors when they'd leeched a month's worth of bandwidth in forty minutes.

They stole to the back of an almost empty cinema to finish the last leg of her search on an obscure Nazi project with references to Subject Zero. Which they now knew was HYDRA's code for Bucky. It detailed his missions for several years after the end of the war, attributing several unsolved murders to his name. She saw how this news affected Steve and even though she knew that he probably had know this about the man he was searching for going in, from his expression, Felicity knew reason wasn't that simple. James Barnes - Subject Zero, a.k.a The Winter Soldier, slash the Hand of Hydra, Red Star, Ghost and a host of other aliases was someone else to Steve. He was someone important. Someone he cared about. And that was answer enough for Felicity, to decide that she would do whatever she could to help Steve, save his friend.

"I don't know James. Bucky," she corrected herself, touching Steve's arm. "But I will do whatever I can to help you find him. I don't know him, and his ledger scares the hell outta me but I trust you. We barely know each other but I feel I can trust you, is that crazy?"

Steve took her hand in his. "I appreciate your trust in me, Felicity. I won't let you down. Bucky was, is my best friend. He was my brother. HYDRA did this to him. Made him this..." He hung his head his voice hitching. His eyes were watery when he met her gaze. "Call me a fool but I know he's still in there. He could have killed me. He was always an excellent shot. His orders were to kill me but he didn't do it. He couldn't do it because underneath all that brainwashing and programming, he's still Bucky. My best friend, and he needs me. We promised each other. We would always have each other's backs. I left him once before. I'll never do it again. We are in this. Together. Till the end of the line."

Felicity wiped the tear that spilled down his cheek with her thumb. He startled at her touch. Probably surprised he was crying. He let out an embarrassed chuckle and gave her a vulnerable boyish look. She couldn't help herself, she leaned across and kissed him.

At first he froze, but barely a second passed and he was kissing her back. She pushed the laptop from her lap and into her bag and turned fully so she could cup his face and deepen their kiss. He groaned and pulled away, breathing hard.

"I shouldn't. You're so young and I'm old enough to be your father. Well your grandfather," he said his eyes shuttering. He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck a clear sign of his discomfiture over the situation.

Felicity rolled her eyes skyward and put her hands on his chest. That got him to meet her eyes again. "Listen here, Steve Rogers, I hope I don't have to say this often but I will if I have to. You're a man out of time. You've only been awake for about twenty-five, maybe thirty years at most right?"

He nodded solemnly, eyes wide as she leaned against him, one of her palms directly over his heart. She could probably felt it beating like a base drum. She was stern, her voice forceful and her lips still swollen from their kisses and he was mesmerized.

"In which case, you don't have any more worldly experience than I do. So unless you have a kid my age running around somewhere, then I don't see a problem? No?" At his hurried shake of his head, she broke with a smile. "Then shut up and kiss me."

He didn't offer anymore protest. He put his arms around her in the back of that darkened theater and gave as good as he got in make-out session of his life. All the while his heart racing wondering if they were going to be arrested for indecent behavior but he couldn't stop himself or even consider regret for a second.

.


	3. Gym

**Summary:** Felicity feels what it's like to keep up with agents and super-soldiers. A little girl bonding.

 **::: ::: :::**

Digg had started her in basic defence and strength training. She could happily say she could lift her own body weight now without collapsing like cooked spaghetti. Training with Maria though was a different ball game.

The woman had 3-inches on her, but they were a similar build and there was really only Maria or Natasha. Felicity found the other woman scary intimidating. She was so poised and quiet. Felicity didn't dare initiate conversation much less ask if she would train her. She was a former assassin and a super-spy. Natasha probably had a hundred better things to do than pander to a fitness novice. Besides, Maria had offered when she'd seen Felicity struggling through a sparring session with Happy one afternoon.

"Another run through and I think we're done for today?"

Felicity looked at those parallel bars and and wished she could burn them to ash. Although Steve probably wouldn't appreciate it, he used those every day and truthfully, she loved watching him use them. He had a very tight set of buns. Her mind's eye drifted to the rings across the gym, oh boy, she was feeling a bit light-headed picturing his shoulder muscles move while he used those.

A weighted ball hit her in the stomach with a whoosh that knocked her flat on her back and expelled all the air from her lungs.

"Sorry," Maria said breathlessly. "I thought you were ready, you were looking right at me."

Felicity took her offered hand and sat up with a wince. She could handle more physical punishment with each passing day, but taking a 15kg ball to the chest was going to leave an impression.

"So you and Steve?" she asked casually. "I read a bit of his file when we found him. He had an old flame, one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D. Since waking up he's always struck me as the focused on the mission, lone ranger type. And he's a little intimidating. How'd you get past that?"

Felicity pushed herself to standing and straightened her top. She brushed back the sweaty strands of hair from her face and took a second to get her chest moving right again. "Urgh, my fault for losing focus. Steve and I, honestly sometimes I think I'm in dream. Although dreams don't sucker punch you quite like that."

"Sorry," Maria said with a wince in sympathy. "Do you want to go to medical?"

Felicity shook her head. "I can stand and I can breathe. Nothing's broken," she said, gingerly feeling her ribs. Actually, she was starting to breathe normally again already.

"When we first met I totally ran my mouth off like a fangirl. But later I heard my uncle in my head, telling me that all these war heroes and servicemen are just like the best of us. They wanted to protect and serve, they didn't do it for accolades. And whether they got medals or whether they came home to a hero's welcome, or had a quiet honorable discharges because of permanent injury, each one of them deserves our gratitude and respect. So I decided to tell the fangirl to take a hike and treat Steve like the nice guy he was, with a healthy dose of respect thrown in. It's working in my favor so far."

Maria grinned at the picture she'd seen this morning of Steve and Felicity in the kitchen making waffles for the gang. "I'm certainly seeing a different side to him. You're good for him."

Felicity beamed at her. "Thank you. And if that was a pep talk to soften me up for the rope climb, I'm so going to find a way you get you back."

Maria laughed out right. "Hey, I'm taking the punishment right along with you."

"And you have at least a couple years training on me, pity for the newbie here."

Maria shook her head. "Felicity, if I had the pleasure of training newbies like you when I first started at S.H.I.E.L.D, I might not have worked so hard to get out of mentoring."

Shaking her head at the obvious props, even though she knew Maria wouldn't offer empty praise, Felicity eyed the ceiling rope with dread. "I hated gym in school."

"So, did I," a voice added over her shoulder. "But for difference reasons, I think. I could never make the top without my airways starting to close, and trust me, no amount of willpower helps your grip there."

Watching him grab the rope and start climbing with the ease of a seasoned athlete, Felicity managed to pick up her jaw off the floor and follow suit. Ignoring the snickering of Maria behind her. She suddenly found a hidden reserve of energy. And it had nothing to do with the man across from her. Nothing at all.

.


	4. Agent K (MiB)

**Summary:** Steve and Felicity have been dating for a few weeks and they decide it's time to meet her closest family. He's not happy she's spending time with the Avengers and he's not a stranger to one of them in the slightest. Felicity learns something about her cousin she knew nothing about.

 **::: ::: :::**

When his little cousin, not so little and more like a beloved niece called up to say she was moving to his city, he had been more than a bit concerned. Not only would she be closer to discovering the truth about him, but also something he and Donna had worked her entire life to shield her from. Seeing her now, surrounded by her new friends, especially the wall of man with long hair, sporting a goofy smile, all he could do was shake his head and wonder how many people were going to be read in today, and just how much would Donna screech at him. It was his job to protect her baby girl since from almost the moment she set foot in his city, well honestly long before that even, but it was splitting hairs.

The steel doors opened and he was greeted by an unwelcome but familiar face.

"Agent K," Thor bellowed heartily, clapping him on the back. "I see no two headed men, enemies to Midgard or tentacled females, what brings you?"

3-2-1 he sounded off quietly in his head. Patience - still waters. He could do this. He should have known this was a bad idea when he'd realized just where the street address on the text message had led him to. The two-story tall blazing letters on the side of the building should have been warning enough.

"Gah, I should have known. You're way too smart to be working for the USPS," she said, bounding up the short landing to greet him. She kissed him on the cheek and then took his arm to lead him over to the lounge area. "Uncle Kay, this is Steve. And don't mind them," she said gesturing at the others. "His roomies decided to stick around for moral support. Or for kicks. I haven't decided which yet. They're not all bad though," she said with a friendly teasing wink in Bruce's direction.

Steve stood and extended his hand to Kay. "Steve Rogers, it's a pleasure to meet you, sir." Kay shook his hand amicably and waited as the other man to falter in his composure under his obvious scrutiny. He had to give the man props for not wilting under his best agent 'stoic, hard-ass' face.

Felicity released his arm and took a seat on the arm of the long settee closest to the First Avenger, the man he was screening, no meeting today. He looked the man directly in the eyes, he could tell with one look if there was anything other-worldly or fishy going on beneath the surface. Open, clear blue eyes stared back at him. How could one not flinch or shy away and still come across as humble? The man had a gift. Damn it. Had to be Captain 'wholesome' America that she decided to adopt into her circle of trust.

"So just which agency do you work for? Or is it you tell me, you'll have to kill me?" Her ponytail bobbed with her obvious nervous energy and she gulped nervously.

Kay didn't miss the way her super-powered boyfriend edge closer to her in a protective way. The glance the man sent him now was a subtle warning. And the frown from Captain America was enough to make him feel his age in his bones. He wiped a hand over his face and lamented not for the first time that they should have figured out a way to make the Neuralyzer work on all alien races.

Kay had used it once on Felicity when she was a child and she and Donna had been visiting him. J had inadvertently brought work home with him and Felicity although initially shocked over the jelly like creature had promptly wanted to play dolls with it. He'd flashed her and instead of the desired effect, she had sparkled and stood frozen for a full ten minutes. Turns out her skin a tad reflective of high powered lights and her irises where extremely sensitive to imaging. Donna had screamed at him for an hour. He'd had a permanent ringing in his left ear for days. And they never visited him again. When he visited them in Vegas he had to promise to leave his 'brainer' in the car. It really was a shame he couldn't flash them all, sweep Felicity out of there and send her back to Vegas. Exposing her to his work and her getting friendly with the Avengers was so far out of the league of keeping her safe that he could already feel his right-eye twitching and that annoying temple vein throb in anticipation of Donna's chewing out.

"Your Kay here, works for the secret government agency that protects earth from all alien life forms," Bruce said from his end of the room, where he was relaxed with his elbow on the bar. All the Avengers had a debriefing after Loki's attack before they used a flashy thing. It didn't work on me because…" he gestured to himself bodily, "Hulk. It didn't so much blank us as annoyed the big guy a lot and we nearly had a problem."

He had snorted at that. It was lucky that MiB were equipped with a myriad of advanced alien tech and drugs that were strong enough to subdue a gamma-irradiated, DNA sup'd hybrid. They were still cleaning up the mess a Taranian made giving birth in Arrivals. "I had my orders but frankly I see no reason why you shouldn't all be aware of the agency. Your team mate is an Asgardian after all. Yes, there is a universally recognized organization, which does have a headquarters in New York and we protect the planet from all alien threats both foreign and domestic."

"Wow," Felicity breathed. "My uncle is an intergalactic super-spy."

"Second cousin and I prefer the term, Terran protection and law enforcement officer." He didn't need reminding of how far removed from her generation he was. He only had to look at her, so young and fresh faced, raw energy surrounding her and he felt old. Some mornings he felt every bit his age and wished he could just turn off the buzzer and go back to sleep. The days of being able to chase aliens on four hours sleep were a fuzzy memory.

"And that's a mouthful anyway you put it," Tony said in his deadpan manner. "How come we've never heard of you or your super secret agency?"

Kay smirked a little. "If you'd bothered to read your father's journals you'd know and we would have approached you years ago. Some of earth's best defensive tech was designed by him. Off book of course."

Tony frowned. "Nick gave me a bunch of stuff SHEILD had in lock up, there was no mention of Asgard, Chitauri or Roswell aliens in them anywhere."

Kay put his hands in his trouser pockets and rocked back on his heels. "Well, huh." He frowned, his deep furrows becoming more pronounced. "Small key, locker number on the tag, address on the back for Grand Central Station?"

"Everyone knows that there are no public storage lockers anywhere in NYC. There haven't been for years," Clint said.

Felicity frowned at him. She still hadn't warmed to the team archer, but he wasn't around enough to notice anyway. He didn't use the tower as a residence.

Clint only really checked in for team briefings and to use the state of the art gym/simulator. "If Kay says they're there. Then they're there. He's old, not senile."

She felt Steve stiffen at her side and she squeezed his knee, giving him a fond smile but exasperated smile. He got a tad defensive anytime anyone made reference to age. She thought she'd gotten him past that. After all, it was one of their most memorable discussions from their first date. Maybe it was because this was the first time he was meeting her family that he was nervous and seeing her very protective, second-cousin/uncle/pseudo -father put him out of his comfort-zone.

"Thank you, dear," Kay said with a rare smile, then turned his serious gaze on Tony. "Mr. Jarvis never passed anything along following your 18th birthday?"

"Mr. Jarvis couldn't keep up with my antics and he and Stein never got along. He retired to Ireland before I graduated high school, moved back to where Mrs. Jarvis grew up. But now that you've mentioned it, he did leave a lot of stuff behind. Jarvis, did your namesake leave anything that I was to open at a pre-designated time?"

A disembodied voice, startled her normally unflappable uncle. And Felicity had to stifle a laugh to see him ruffled. "I believe there was a small box in the master bedroom at your father's Washington residence that Mr. Jarvis left for you. He said it was to be opened if you ever desired to learn about the man your father tried to be, rather than the one everyone thought he was."

"Well that's not cryptic at all. Didn't you think it might contain information that might be helpful… oh say the first time other worldly beings showed up?"

"I am merely a product of my programming. A construct. I was designed by you, Mr. Stark. Mr. Jarvis pre-dates my programming. I have only a rough imprint of his manner of speech and his services to your family."

"Then how did you know about the box?" Tony asked growing impatient.

"The box was delivered by courier and accompanied by an audio note from Mr. Jarvis. I believe it was Mr. Stein that receipted that delivery and placed it in your father's room. I have a digital copy stored in my data banks if you would like to hear it. It's quite long, I summarised the contents to apprise you of the details pertaining to your request."

Tony waved his hand. "No need. No one wants to hear what a disappointment I was or how I was squandering my potential… yadda yadda. I know I don't."

"I do," Felicity pipped up. "Mr. Jarvis sounds fun. Especially if JARVIS was modelled after him," she added.

"Thank you, Ms. Smoak."

"Felicity, JARVIS," she quipped with a bright smile. "And you're welcome. He's so awesome," she said snuggling into Steve's shoulder.

Steve gazed down at the top of her blonde head and wondered if he should feel jealous of her affection for the AI. At least he was the one she was snuggling. He put his arms around her and held her against his chest. It was so odd to have a woman cuddle up to him, without any ulterior motive but just to be close to him. Sure he'd never been lacking for attention following the success of the Super Soldier Program but all those dames hadn't cared to know the skinny, sickly kid from Brooklyn underneath the chistled jaw and bulging muscles. They were there for the fame and bragging rights at being in the company of Captain America. Felicity was the first girl to want to get to know him since Peggy. She was genuine, fun, quirky and sharp witted. She didn't care that he could fight, or that he had famous friends, or even that he'd been born decades before her mother had been a twinkle in her grandfather's eye.

"Well looks like I'm spending the afternoon on a treasure hunt. Who's with me?" Tony said rubbing his hands together. No one made a move. "Anyone? Free beers at McSorley's after. Thor? Cap? You're Irish, you can't say no to free pint. Come on," he pleaded.

"I will drink a pint with you, Stark," Thor clapped him on the shoulder.

"Ow, and that never feels good. Ease up, big guy, these bones are worth billions."

Felicity rolled her eyes and shared a long-suffering grin with Steve. Notwithstanding all the damages he paid out on a regular basis form civil claims against Iron Man, Stark Industries and the Avengers, Tony never failed to remind everyone of his minute increasing net worth. She cringed at the amount she had seen him signing off for Pepper to settle a collective suit that had been lodged against the company in relation to the disaster at the Stark Expo. Of course Stark Industries and the Department of Defence had lodged a joint astronomical claim against Hammer Industries, but the man had declared bankruptcy and his stocks had plummeted. No one was getting anything out of the man any time soon, except for time served.

"Well I'm off. Felicity, don't let them rough house. Pepper is still sore about that dry wall. You break it, you bought it kids."

Kay snorted to himself as the elevator doors closed behind the infamous Tony Stark. He did his best to squash the relief he felt at him bringing the Asgardian out with him. As they had been watching the duo leave. Dr. Banner and Mr. Barton had made themselves scarce. He thought that was mighty decent of them or not, considering whose point of view you were taking. They had either given him a green light to interrogate their friend, or they'd made a strategic retreat after sensing blood in the water. In which case, spineless, the lot of them.

"So tell me, you didn't bring me over here to tell me you're moving in, right," he asked hesitantly. He took a seat across from her and surveyed them both. He might have been born in 1920 but Steve Rogers didn't look a day older than 25. If you didn't count the time he was frozen, he was probably closer to 30. Super Soldier Serum at work. Must be marvellous not to have muscle-aches and arthritis at his age.

"You know, you remind me of someone…" Steve started. "You wouldn't happen to know or be related to a Chester Phillips?"

"It's Brigadier General, and he was my grandfather. You served together. He said you were a stubborn kid with a soft heart. The procedure should have killed you, is what he said."

Felicity paled. It was terribly blunt and an insensitive thing to say. Steve didn't talk about the past much. It must be painful to know that all his friends and family, the loved ones he remembered were either dead or so old that they might have forgotten him. She shot her uncle a disapproving look. She understood that he felt entitled to do the tough routine with every boyfriend or male in her life but she wouldn't stand for anyone mistreating Steve.

"All the reports say you're a good egg, Rogers. You treat my girl right, you hear, or I'll find a galaxy far-far away for you. Avenger or not."

Steve nodded solemnly, and Felicity saw him twitch as if to salute. She was glad she was holding his hand. No need to play to her Uncle Kay's ego too much. "Yes, sir. She's one of a kind. I intend to treat her like my best girl. The one and only."

"That's all I want to hear. Well you kids don't need to be saddled with the likes of me. And I've got to see to a street-thing in Brooklyn, so Felicity, do you want to see me out?"

Felicity dutifully saw him to the elevator and pushed the call button for him. "I'm happy, Uncle Kay. You can tell her that. And no, I'm not moving out. Steve's a little old fashioned."

Kay looked skyward. "Saints be praised for that. I'm happy, you're happy, kiddo. I'll call your mother, maybe she should come visit. She just hates that you seem to be moving further and further away from her. MIT, Starling, now New York. Next thing you'll be moving overseas," he said peering at her strangely. "Just promise me one thing."

"Anything," she said nodding.

"No missions. I don't want you anywhere near a gun fight, bombs or tanks. Call me old-school, wet blanket, over-protective, stifling, geriatric, stick in the mud but I don't want my baby cousin caught in a war. And that's what the Avengers attract. Chaos and war. Sure they're necessary, just like what my agency does. Doesn't mean I want you involved in it, period."

Felicity chewed down hard on her lower lip. If only he had known half of what she'd gotten involved in back in Starling, who was she kidding. He probably knew all about it which was why he was trying to wrangle this promise out of her now. "Okay. I won't sign myself up for any missions or try to bribe my way into the Avengers."

"Good girl." He kissed her forehead and stepped into the elevator.

When the doors closed, she heard Steve cough from over in the lounge. "So are you going to tell him that you're the official tech support for the Avengers and on Tony's payroll?" He shook his head at her guilty expression. "Remind me never to play against you in Scrabble, Scattergories or Taboo. And definitely not Bullshit."

She gave him a look of mock outrage. "Language." She chastened sliding onto the cushion beside him.

He rolled his eyes and tickled her till she plead for mercy. She cuddled into him and pinched his chin, followed by a sweet kiss against his endlessly warm lips. He was like her own personal huggable, hot water bottle and he always smelled absolutely divine. Clean and fresh like a citrus and bergamot grove. "What he doesn't know can't hurt him."

"I think he should be the judge of that but I'm certainly not going to be the one to tell him. That man reminds me far too much of his grandfather."

Felicity beamed at him in amusement, her eyes lifting at the corners. Completely awed that he could be nervous over her mom's cousin who really was a big teddy bear. Especially when you put him in front of an apple rhubarb pie. "You're adorable."

Steve blushed. He was amazed he could even form a coherent thought, with her looking at him the way she was, like there was nothing else in the world in this moment but the two of them. It had all stopped. Her smile was something else. She literally radiated light and warmth. He could feel it all the way to his toes. "Thank you for remarking on it," he teased.

"You're most welcome," she said with a wink.

.


	5. The Shower

**Summary:** Steve and Felicity talk expectations.

::: ::: :::

Tony was the smartest man she'd ever met, her father included. Granted she had only been six when he left, but she'd seen his inventions, his experiments and she liked to think she understood brilliance when she saw it. Like Tony, her father had built a supercomputer before middle school. So yes, she was a little in awe of his skills and genius, but the man didn't have a humble bone in his body. Sure all his friends told her that he'd had his ego dialed down in recent years, but he was still incapable of not boasting or grandstanding. So while she admired Tony for his ingenuity and bravery - he wasn't afraid of failure, at least not on a scientific or technological level - she could only tolerate being around him in small doses. Keeping up with him was mentally and physically exhausting. The man was like the Energizer bunny, and he didn't even have a mini-ARC reactor in his chest anymorAnother installation down and she was home free. Clean energy was the way of the future and where popular America were still clinging to nuclear energy, many other countries weren't and were eager and ready to pay Stark Industries top dollar for their design and systems. She wasn't an engineer or a physicist but she new her science and she knew how to build secure systems. And Tony didn't want anyone else working with him or his team in handing over his baby (the newly improved ARC Reactor) to their buyers, but her.

When they'd first met, Tony had been distant and suspicious of her. Pepper thought it was curious and odd considering Tony had never been suspicious of any woman before. Bruce had suggested it was because she was dating Cap and Tony was protective of Cap. Which was laughable in itself since no one ribbed Steve more than Tony. Tony later admitted it was because he had misjudged and been totally blindsided by Natasha (a mistake he lived to tell about, many others couldn't call themselves so fortunate) and under appreciated Pepper for so many years, he decided he'd take a page from Rodey's playbook and actually treat woman as more than just decoration or play things. Having Pepper in his life and working with Maria and Natasha was certainly helping him with that self improvement.

Felicity was important to Steve. He didn't want to do anything to screw that up. He thought she was very clever, young, kind and beautiful. It was a rare combination. He had a reputation of screwing up relationships. His circle of genuine friends was very small and he had abused those friendships a lot over time, his non platonic track record was case in point, Tony didn't want to risk running her off so he'd kept to himself, until one day he caught her conversing with JARVIS and suggesting coding upgrades and he just couldn't uninvolved himself any longer.

So they were back from another week long trip, this time from Amsterdam and she was too tired to go home. Happy had offered to drive her but she was another 30-minute drive, with no traffic, from the Avengers tower across the city. If Steve was out and she couldn't ask him if she could crash in his room, she'd take the sofa, she was that desperate for a hot shower and sleep.

The team rooms were still being finished, the plumbing fitted, so there was only Tony and Pepper's private bathroom and a communal bathroom available. There wasn't a lock on the door but the glass frosted when the room was in use. Considering Bruce was in the lab and looked to be occupied for the next hour at least, she told Tony she was going to take a shower. He waved her off, absorbed in the reports Maria had sent over on the latest HYDRA Intel they had gathered.

Felicity dropped her overnight case on the vanity and took out a comfortable pair of leggings, a soft sweater and a clean change of underwear from her suitcase before turning the shower on and stepping under the spray. The water pressure was just right and the large shower head drenched her from head to toe in seconds.

She was done with her hair and had soaped up her body when she felt the shower door open. She didn't even register who it might be, it was purely an impulse reaction. She screamed, loudly and flailed, throwing her sudsy loofah into her intruder's face.

::: ::: :::

Steve was tired. He and Sam had just gotten back from another dead end. He thought for sure this time he had caught up to Bucky. The trip back from Montreal was a long one, going over every piece of information they had gathered from witnesses and video footage, Maria had sweet talked out of the local traffic department liaison to help in their investigation. Bucky had been there a month. The longest he'd been anywhere. It was the last place Steve knew to look going over all the places they'd ever talked about visiting when the war was over.

He hadn't been sleeping well since losing Bucky again. Never more than a couple hours at a time. Sure his body was a super machine but he need his brain to switch off. It was hard to find peace these days. He only really felt rested, his mind slowing, the worry and guilt easing when he was around her. The thought of Felicity brought a smile to his face. Holding her, her face pressed against his chest, her arms around his waist, he found himself closing his eyes and often he slept without even realizing it. She never woke him, or complained of being uncomfortable. And when he opened his eyes, she would never fail to give him a smile that chased away the chill that tried to lay claim to his heart.

He wondered if it was too late to ride over and visit her. She was due back from her business trip today. It was only six. He could pick up dinner on the way and surprise her. That thought in mind, he grabbed a towel and his shaving kit and headed for the communal bathroom.

Being in barracks and stationed all over Europe, he was used to using whatever was available. He'd made do with a basin and a washcloth for months in some circumstances. He dropped his things on the sink counter and he didn't even register that the shower was already running until he was confronted with a naked screaming Felicity.

Her expression, not to mention her body which was now permanently emblazoned in his brain, momentarily immobilized him but a loofah to the face promptly sprung him into action. With a sincere and profuse apology, he spun on his heel, his foot finding a wet patch on the floor and caught the back of his head on the corner of the shower frame, knocking himself out cold.

Bruce heard Felicity scream, and considering it sounded like she'd been startled senseless, he ran straight down the hall from the lab and into the bathroom.

Not sure what he feared, either a security breech, an enormous spider or a rat, what he found instead was a naked Steve passed out on the floor and an equally naked Felicity, dripping wet, crouched over him.

Bruce promptly did an about face, with a garbled apology only to collide with Tony who'd also come to investigate.

By this time Steve was already coming around. He noticed Felicity trying to check him over, still naked and saw the two framing the door, holding each other up.

"Get out!" he barked at them. Grabbing his towel off the floor, he shielded her body and glared at the two still bug-eyed outside the door.

Tony, never one to obey any orders, remained where he was and smirked. "Nice work, Cap. I thought she could do with a little TLC. Nice welcome home there."

"Stark," Steve growled in warning.

"Got it, no sharing. Come on, Banner. Show's over." The pair finally moved out of view and closed the door.

Felicity, while embarrassed she'd flashed everyone, was more concerned about the bump on the back of Steve's head. It was already welling up to be half an egg size. "We need some ice on this."

Steve gently pried her hand away and urged her back. "Finish up your shower, I'll get some ice from the kitchen."

"But Steve you shouldn't go walking around, you could have a concussion and..."

He blew out a long breath and gave her a look she couldn't interpret. "I heal fast, Felicity, it's fine. I've got it. Finish up."

::: ::: :::

Steve knew he should be sitting down with at the very least a bag of peas against the throbbing bump on the back of his head but he couldn't sit still. So he'd spent the last twenty minutes beating the sand out of the boxing bags in the gym. It wasn't anything unusual for him. Tony kept lots of duct tape around and plenty of bags. It was just a shame he'd burst every single bag in the gym and he didn't have the care to repair any of them yet. They'd served their purpose though. Now he was feeling a little physically spent to match his mental fatigue. And he was even in more need of a shower than before.

He couldn't get the image of her out if his head. Just picturing her made his temper flare again and made his face hot.

He wasn't that guy. He didn't jerk off to magazines or watch porn but he had seen his fair share of female forms. Being Captain America drew a certain kind of attention. Men wanted to be him and woman wanted to bed him. He had been weak. He had been unused to that kind of attention and he had thought at the time that it was nice to be noticed, to be desired. But he learned pretty quickly why his mother had always frowned at the girls that hung off Bucky's arms when he occasionally brought his latest dates around to take him out on the town. Those women didn't want to know Steve from Brooklyn that only had one good suit and two pairs of shoes to his name, that had been sickly, at the doctors so often that they knew all his statistics and patient history by heart. They didn't want to know the man who had been so lost after his mother died that he'd taken to lying on papers in a desperate attempt to get passed so he could make something of himself. Join the cause, defend his country and find meaning for his dead-end life.

Felicity wasn't one of those shallow girls who only wanted a good time. Or were simply there to be told they're pretty, to be spoiled with gifts and adorn the arm of the richest or most popular man in the room.

He felt sick that his mind kept drifting back to her again and again. The way her wet hair was darker and clung to her shoulders and the tops of her breasts. He buried his face in his hands and his mind took him back, showing him everything in fine detail, the water droplets that trailed down her body, the steam still rising from her freshly showered skin. Her shapely perfect curves, her rounded hips, child-bearing hips his brain helpfully supplied. And his groin twitched at the thought of her rounded and swollen with his child. He wracked a hand through his hair, tugging at the ends and wincing when the tender area protested his abuse.

A tentative, gentle hand caressed his shoulder and he looked up, knowing without looking that she was there.

"You weren't in the kitchen," she said softly, her voice uneven and her eyes suspiciously moist. "Talk to me, Steve."

He gulped, trying to work through the lump lodged in his throat. "You're a good girl, a good woman, Felicity. I... I want to treat you right. I'm trying... I always thought that..."

Felicity blushed, reading between the lines of what he was saying. "Does it suck that those two barged in on us? Yes. Am I upset that you saw me naked? Are you kidding? I wish I had your old school charm and propriety, but I've been picturing you naked probably since the day we met," she sighed. "It's kinda impossible to put Pandora back in the box once you've opened it. I'm no paragon of virtue, Steve. There haven't been many but I'm not a virgin."

Steve grabbed her hands in his and squeezed them looking deep into her eyes. "Neither am I. It would be completely hypocritical of me to expect you to be. Not that it wouldn't be a gift and an honor, if you were," he said touching his forehead to hers. "I guess I was just feeling guilty because I promised myself that the next time I was with someone or did anything intimate, it would be with someone special. And it would mean something. It would be consensual and planned..."

"And not an accidental tussle in the shower in which no one has any gratification?" she teased lightly, a smile threatening the corners of her mouth.

"Come here, darlin'," he growled playfully. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her, teasing her bottom lip with his teeth until she pressed against him more firmly and opened her mouth. "I love you," he said finally when he broke their kiss, pressing his nose to her cheek.

Felicity threaded her fingers through the fine silken strands of his hair and cradled his head. "I love you too, you big idiot. Don't ever disappear and mope on me again. A girl could get a complex."

Steve grinned against her throat as he peppered her skin with soft kisses. "Yes, ma'am."


	6. It's A Classic

**Summary** : Felicity plans the perfect getaway for Steve. Including getting to drive a car that was only a rich man's dream from his day.

::: ::: :::

Tony was sitting next to Pepper sipping on a long island ice tea when he saw - no heard - the rumble of a racing engine coming down Park Avenue toward the tower. Pepper had to grab his arm to keep him from suiting up to take a closer look.

"JARVIS, front entrance cameras."

On his tablet, he watched the Hot Rod red, 1957 Jaguar XKSS roll up to the side of the building and a blonde wearing large block-out sunglasses, red lipstick that matched her car paint perfectly, got out to stand beside the driver's door, waiting.

"Tony, who did they come for? Who's driving?"

She wasn't a car enthusiast like her partner but his expression made her more than a little curious. He looked equal parts proud and envious. It was slightly disturbing. She tried to lean in to take a look at what he was studying so intently. He gave up watching through the small device and got up to leaned over the balcony where he could see the road below.

Pepper picked up the tablet he'd left behind in his lounge chair. "She's here for Steve. It must be Felicity," she surmised, watching the the footage. "It's the only time I've seen her wear pants outside the gym. I love those shorts, she looks fantastic."

::: ::: :::

Steve had his overnight bag slung over his shoulder and dropped it into the almost nonexistent space behind the seats. "Wow, she's a beauty. Kay's got great taste."

Felicity nodded, smiling at him widely. She tossed him the keys, which he snagged effortlessly and she rounded the car to greet him on the passenger side. "She's yours to drive for the weekend. Think you can handle her?"

The modern display in the dash that was obviously an aftermarket addition sprung to life. "Rogers, you dent her, damage the gearbox or the clutch and you'll find you haven't seen true horror or pain yet. Believe me, son, there's a whole world in New York that you've never experienced and I'll be more than delighted to show it to you. I'd have to Neutralize you after of course but you get the gist. I'm trusting you, Rogers."

Steve gulped but closed his hands firmly around the keys before shooting an apprehensive look at Felicity. Her answering smile and her arm threading through his, chased all his doubts away. He glanced back and met Kay's narrowed stare without betraying any nervousness. "I'll take the very best care of both your girls, sir. That's a promise."

Felicity kissed his cheek and wiped away the bright smudge of lipstick it left on his skin. "Sorry," she murmured. Not really sorry.

Loud energy discharge and a heavy thunk sounded nearby and they knew that they were about to welcome, unexpected company.

"You have to let me drive this baby."

"No, they don't, Mr. Stark."

"Sorry, gramps but it's on my property and possession is 9/10ths of the law." Tony turned to Felicity. "Honey, you know I'm good for it and I wouldn't dream of harming a classic."

"Tony, you're my boss and I think you're brilliant, but honestly, I wouldn't trust you with my computer much less a car that doesn't belong to me."

"But you're letting Capsicle drive?" he asked incredulously, his face betraying his hurt feelings. "How do you know he even knows how to use stick? He's never even owned a car before."

"Stark, step away from the vehicle." Felicity knew from the warning tone in Kay's voice that things were about to get messy and urged Steve to step back from the car with a gentle push against his chest.

"Sorry, Agent. No can do." Tony retracted his hand armor and reverently ran his hand over the rear of the car.

"I warned you."

The car set out a pulse that raced through Tony's fingertips and Iron Man was out for the count on the asphalt.

Felicity lifted her sunglasses, pushed them into her hair and eyed her cousin warily. "Kay, do I need to disable the MiB lo-jack software or are you going to behave? You said you were okay with this."

"Have I mentioned lately that your friends are giving me gray hair?"

Felicity snorted and shot him a pointed look. "I thought it was all gray already? Love you too, Uncle Kay. Goodbye," she said leaning in to turn off the call display. "You've grown on him, you know that right?" she said grabbing Steve's shirt collar and straightening it. She was seriously tempted to drag him in for a kiss but she knew how overly amorous public displays of affection made him uncomfortable. So she settled for a super quick peck on the lips.

He was still looking a little shell shocked when she went over to check Tony and there was a telltale bit of color across his cheekbones as he absently followed her.

Felicity slapped Tony lightly on the cheek. "Earth to Tony."

Tony's eyes snapped open. "Whoa. What happened? Oh, hey Felicity."

"Word from the wise, proceed with caution around Uncle Kay. He might look harmless but he's been in the hero business since we were all in diapers. Okay not Steve, but you get the idea okay?"

Tony stumbled a bit as he got to his feet. "That's just mean."

Felicity patted him consolingly. Once she was sure he was steady, she leaned up and whispered in his ear. "If you're a good boy and you spoil Pepper this weekend, I may or may not tell you where there's a secret stash of MiB weapons."

Tony's eyes widened and Steve frowned. Tony looked like Christmas had come early. "You can bet I can keep my end of that deal, Ms. Smoak. You better not be yanking my chain."

Felicity gave him a wink over her shoulder as she slid into the vacant seat, with Steve closing her door for her. "I figure it's your Dad's legacy. We'll talk about it when I get back."

Tony nodded and once he was sure he had his legs back, his helmet thunk-ed into place and he took off for the roof again.

Steve slotted the key in the ignition and turned to Felicity. "How long have you been planning this? I know Kay's not that fond of me and there were only 16 of these cars ever sold."

"There would have been none if it wasn't for Kay's dad stopping a fire-breathing alien from leveling the manufacturing plant."

"Felicity, it's his father's car," Steve asked, a nervous edge to his voice.

"Steve," she said grabbing his hand and putting it firmly on the shift. "It's been sitting in the garage for the past two years. Uncle Kay has been meaning to drive it but he's been too busy with work. It's a car that's made to ride the road. It's criminal to have it collecting dust. Start the baby already, will you. Trust me, once you feel the engine, you're going to forget we even had this conversation."

Steve took a steadying breath and did as he was told. They weren't even a block from the Avengers tower before he was smiling. His girlfriend was absolutely right. And bless her, he'd just fallen in love with her even more.

As they sped down the highway out of the city, he knew this weekend away was exactly what he needed to get his mind off everything. He glanced at the woman in the passenger seat, her unbound blonde hair whipping out behind her hair, her face tilted up to catch the afternoon sun. Her red full lips were a stark contrast to her pale creamy skin and he gulped as his eyes travelled lower following the curve of her chin and the slender column of her throat leading to the scoop neckline of her forest green halter top. She always looked fantastic, she was a very classy dresser but today, she looked extra alluring. Maybe it was the color of her shirt. Green was a perfect color against her skin and complimented her blue-green eyes. They always seemed to sparkle when she wore green.

"So does green, mean green light?" he asked thickly. A rented beach house on the coast, the priceless roadster, the ultra mini khaki shorts and the backless wonder, he was old, not dead or that thick-skulled.

"Captain, if this signal didn't penetrate past those old school road blocks then I was going to have to resort to drastic measures."

Steve let out a short laugh but in his head he was sweating. So this was it. No pressure. At least they wouldn't be in a tower surrounded by superheroes, some with sensitive hearing.

The hand on his knee made him almost grind a gear. He flashed her a smile and then trained his eyes back on the road. It wasn't a short drive. He had plenty of time to mentally prep for this. It wasn't as though he hadn't worked running through various game plans in his head since the shower incident already, he'd been waiting for the right time. Waiting for her cue. This was it. His heart told him they would survive this and it was going to be everything he dreamed it would be. His head was freaking out.

He felt her lips against his jaw and he didn't fight the grin that tugged at the corners of his mouth. Gripping the steering wheel a little tighter, he told his brain to chill out. This was Felicity. She was his new path. They'd be in this together. And so far, it had been pretty darn amazing.


	7. Housekeeping

**Summary** : Felicity understands why Natasha gets exasperated with the boys' habits. An incident which involves a near miss with a coffee table brings about interesting developments.

::: ::: :::

Natasha joked about having to pick up after the boys all the time. Felicity could understand it from Tony. The man was like watching a hurricane in a jar, it was chaos everywhere but somehow, his mind understood that chaos perfectly. It made sense to no one but him.

Bruce wasn't much better maybe it was a mad genius thing.

But Steve was a minimalist with habits bordering on OCD. He folded his underwear and ironed his socks. Felicity didn't even know where to put the water in the thing. She didn't know when he'd learned how to operate a modern one since she was fairly certain in his day they were still made of iron and heated on the stovetop. If she had to get out wrinkles, she spritzed her shirt with lavender infused water and threw the offending garment in the dryer for fifteen minutes. She wasn't going to be joining the green movement any day soon but she also didn't see standing over an ironing board in her future.

Her charming boyfriend was completely domesticated. He said his skills came about from growing up mostly with a hardworking single parent, but also in the era of practical education. The teaching bodies realized that parents weren't going to bother sending their kids to school with war looming around the corner. So they adopted a more attractive, practical curriculum. Boys spent a lot more time in the gym and in track and field. While girls learned sewing, cooking and both genders only learning basic maths and comprehension. Because of his ailments and physical weaknesses, the gym teacher eventually reassigned him to the girl's program. They'd concluded that there was no chance of him ever getting past the medical exam, so it was better to give him life skills he could use.

There had been no such thing as excursions to Liberty Island, seeing a ballgame or going to the zoo. Something Felicity had rectified in swift order. They had spent the day before his birthday, incognito at the Bronx Zoo. There was no hope of going anywhere on his birthday. Not only was it Independance Day where everyone and his dog was out en masse, but it was widely known that it was Captain America's birthday and the fans, while respectful and nice for the most part, were exhausting. He'd loved every second of his pre-birthday outing, moving from exhibit to exhibit with all the contagious enthusiasm and wide-eyed interest of a big kid. He said it was his best birthday ever.

Steve was neat and orderly. Until you put him in the bathroom or the kitchen. Then you realized that he'd spent too long living out of a tent or in barracks in a cloud of testosterone and too much bleach. If you were next to use the bathroom after Steve, you could almost guarantee he forgot the exhaust fan and you'd find puddles of water everywhere. It was better to wait ten minutes for the steam to clear, or you'd find yourself trying to navigate a death trap. They learned that lesson from Thor. He had left a man sized impression in the limestone tiles when he'd lost his footing on a wet patch of flooring.

As for Steve in the kitchen, well they found a method of operation that didn't give Pepper a facial tick. Steve was a natural chef, his sense of smell and taste were so precise that he created gastronomic delights that every team member looked forward to. Tony wouldn't hear of anyone paying rent, but Steve being the man he was, refused to mooch. So instead, he contributed by cooking one night a week, usually a Saturday when everyone stayed in, to feed them all. Considering the guest list included a demi-god, a man with a Hulk-sized metabolism, four grown men and four women (and extra three mouths if Jane and Darcy came to visit, and if Rodey dropped in), the food bill was easily a low rent apartment in Brooklyn. They installed a commercial washer and a deep sink, Felicity did the counter clearing and the pot washing and everyone helped with the dishes clean up and Pepper didn't have a reason to break out her stern face.

Clint was like a shadow. He wasn't around enough to leave a mess. You would think you saw him but you'd turn around and there was no one there. He didn't say much either. He was like the silent observer and team protector. Their Hawkeye in the sky. He often had an outside perspective that none of them had considered yet and Felicity appreciated how seriously he took his job in keeping his teammates safe. The more she noticed, the more she realized that her prejudice was underserved and extremely unjust. She bought him a peace offering in the form of two new trick arrows and a special gift only a man in his line of work would truly appreciate. A laser cut manufactured diamond tipped arrow, a heat seeking, targeting arrow and a new generation 3D metal printer. Natasha said she actually saw Clint tear up. No more recycling arrow shafts, hours of regrinding arrowheads or getting on the phone at midnight to berate suppliers after they botched the metal composite again.

The messiest without a doubt would have to be Thor. He was probably used to being waited on hand and foot as a Prince of Asgard, which would explain why she was currently sprawled on the floor, pizza boxes scattered from landing to the dining table. She was lucky she caught herself at the last second or she would have face planted into the lead-crystal coffee table and that would have made a real mess, not to mention hurt like a bitch.

She pushed up from the tabletop and tried to stand, promptly falling on her ass, while catching a hammer to the chest. The pizza box in her face had her failing to see that she'd snagged her wrist on Thor's hammer.. Mojoner... Mjolnir whatever he called it. She wondered if it was the Hammer that created the lightening and enabled him fly or if it was all Thor and the hammer was really just a oddly shaped sledge-hammer. It certainly felt like a plain old sledge-hammer to her. Untangling Thor's cape from around her ankles, she balled it up and threw it on the couch. See how he worked out those wrinkles. Then she put the hammer back on the table and went about the odious task of salvaging the pizzas that hadn't decorated the floor.

Her Captain America t-shirt was covered in red sauce and grease. She sighed and huffed at the injustice of her predicament. She now understood Natasha's frustration clearly. The men could do with a few lessons in simple housekeeping. Felicity was suddenly intensely grateful that she hadn't worn her new silk dress. It would have been ruined. Forget trying to wow, Steve. It would have been a total loss. Well not completely. Being head of your own department meant you had to dress the part and she could claim part of her wardrobe as a tax right off.

Heading to Steve's room where she kept a spare change of clothes, she figured she'd use his shower too and clean up before everyone started wondering in for dinner. They were all in the simulator - obviously sans Thor if he was about to leave his hammer around - doing a training exercise.

Felicity felt the bellow rather than heard it. She thought there might have been an earthquake. She braced herself in the shower but when nothing followed, she figured it must have been just a one off. It didn't even occur to her, growing up a western seaboard girl that they didn't often have quakes in New York. At least not naturally occurring ones. Although Kay said that giant alien earth worms that lived in decommissioned subway routes sometimes caused mini-quakes moving around.

Steve came bursting through the doorway, a little breathless and eyes-wide. Felicity didn't know how to react. It would have to be the first time his eyes didn't stray from her face, straight to her breasts. Steve Rogers was most definitely a breasts man. Discomforted at his lack of lust over her nakedness, Felicity shut off the water and pulled on her bathrobe. "Where's the fire?."

"Stark… JARVIS… Thor...come with me."

He was acting wildly out of character and he'd hardly checked to see if she'd managed to belt herself properly before he was tugging her out of his room toward the main living area.

"Do it again!" Tony exclaimed loudly, his juvenile words at odds with the stoic seriousness on his face.

Bruce looked twitchy, like she was a puzzle he couldn't figure out, and Natasha was quiet and frowning. Not unusual but unsettling when the subject of the spy's focus was her. Clint wasn't around but Thor - the demi-god was pacing, and looked well, thunderous.

"I'm not a performing monkey, Tony. At the expense of sounding, pardon the pun, blonde, what's going on?"

"You are worthy, daughter of Midgard. The power of Mjolnir, deems you worthy," Thor said solemnly. The slump of his shoulders and the tightness of his jaw spoke volumes about how impressed he was to be uttering those words.

Felicity frowned, then squinted. Weird. She didn't need her glasses at all to read the expectant looks on everyone's faces. "I almost break a crystal coffee table with my face and everyone's hung up on the fact that I snagged my arm on Thor's hammer?" She wasn't successful in curbing her inappropriate burst of humor at the situation and it exited her mouth in a very unladylike snort. They all looked so serious and awestruck, she couldn't help it.

She turned to Thor still snickering. "Before I forget, Jane said to pick up a box of Hershey Kisses before you fly in tomorrow. You can get them in bulk at Costco. Tony can give you the address of the nearest one." She patted him on the chest armor and left the room, still trying to stifle her the urge to laugh and fighting hard to keep her wide grin under control.

Not halfway to her destination, strong arms swept her off her feet and she was deposited on Steve's bed in short order. He peppered kisses along her neck to the top of her chest exposed by her robe, before she had a chance to even hug him back.

"You're amazing, you know that."

Felicity held his face and beamed at him. "No more amazing than you, soldier boy."

Steve blew out a breath. "No really. Thor was ranting and bellowing that Odin had found someone more worthy and demanded to know who lifted the hammer. Stark reviewed the video and well, I had to come find you. You brushed it off like it was nothing, and reassured Thor all in one breath."

Felicity ran her hand from his cheek to his chest, stopping over his heart. "Maybe you have to want it or believe in it's power for it to be anything special. I didn't feel anything, and I wouldn't want to. That's one heck of a burden and responsibility to have."

"Plenty of men have tried and failed. Many still desire it." He frowned. Perhaps he should tell Tony to delete the footage and not to mention it outside the team. It wouldn't bode well for anyone to learn that Felicity, however unintentionally, had moved the Hammer.

"They can try. It belongs to Thor and he wields it with the respect it deserves."

"You're one of a kind, Felicity Smoak," he said with tenderness.

"So are you, Mr. Rogers. Now I'd like a rock your world rogering, if you please."

Steve ducked his face and smiled against her chest, he had to fight a laugh. She really was something else. Still trying to defuse the remaining tension. How did she even know what to say? She always knew how to shake him out of his own head, to clear his worries and insecurities. He wasn't sure he was comfortable with the idea of how much BBC programming she might be watching with Happy, on top of their mutual love of Downton Abbey but her word usage was certainly appreciated. In exclusive company of course.

"What can I say but, yes, ma'am," he responded with a rakish smile.


	8. IT Specialist

**Summary** : Without Felicity, but with Diggle's help and a new business partner, Oliver managed to continue to suit up in both parts of his life as the Arrow and as Oliver Queen, CEO of Queen Consolidated until Slade showed his hand and threatened his family. Now Oliver needs her help. Will she give it?

Featuring Freema Agyeman as Mari Jiwe McCabe

::: ::: :::

"You've been using 70 % of JARVIS' operating potential for the past week. I thought giving you your own lab on the top floor with access to all the latest processors and tech would mean you'd give him back to me, not relocate his mainframe."

Felicity scoffed at Tony's dramatics and stopped chewing on the pen she had between her teeth. Her mother said it was a nasty habit, but all geniuses had their vices. "I promise, I'm almost done with your finest work of genius, Tony. JARVIS is helping me test the network coding. If he were a flesh and blood being, we'd be besties and I'm sad to say that I might never have met Steve. JARVIS and I would have been on a state-of-the art yacht in the Cayman's, running world corporations from our lounge chairs while sipping on piña coladas."

"I'm telling, Cap you said that. He's going to be so devastated."

Felicity grabbed the retractable stun rod a certain someone left in her office and jabbed him with it. He yelped. "I promised Bruce I'd get you back for the shock stunt. He said you'd have seen it coming from him."

Tony smirked. "Oh this is war. He knows that, right?"

"You want to prank war the Hulk? I thought that dance with death was because of the palladium poisoning. You didn't get your fill with last year?"

Tony gave her a pointed stare. "I prefer calculated risks, and thank you so much for reminding me of the anxiety attacks I still have because of my heroic act of public service, Ms. Smoak."

Felicity knew then from the intensity of his gaze that they were no longer joking around. "Tony, you need to talk to someone. If not, Pepper, than maybe Rodey or Steve. PTSD is real and you don't have to go through it alone."

"Thanks for the girl bonding, but I'm gonna go."

"Tony," she called after him pleadingly.

This was what she was referring to when she called Tony exhausting. She could never tell when he was being serious, sarcastic or pretentious. Pepper had told her that it was safe to listen to what Tony was saying, because even when he was being a narcissistic jerk, he wasn't in the habit of lying and always spoke his mind. So whatever he said always held a measure of truth, even if it was only from his perspective. Even if no one else shared that point of view. She took off her glasses and rubbed the pulsing spot between her eyes. Maybe it was time for another Optometrist visit. She thought her vision was fine, but obviously there was something hinky with her prescription if she was getting headaches this frequently.

::: ::: :::

 **Some months ago**

John prepared himself to butt heads with an obstinate stubborn man. He had believed convincing Oliver to come out of self imposed exile was going to be tough, but it turned out almost blowing himself up on an old land-mine and showing the man newspapers and video footage of what was happening back home and been enough. There was no one who cared more for their family than Oliver. He'd believed that staying on the island was best for everyone. He seemed to get that the only person benefiting from his absence was himself, by hoping to escape his problems.

Oliver had pointed out that he wouldn't know the first thing about saving the family company, and John explained that he'd spoken to Moira about that and she had suggested Walter. Oliver argued that while that might help in the short term, in the long term he didn't know the first thing about being a CEO and he hadn't even finished one college degree let alone held any credentials in business or finance. John suggested that he also might have talked to Lyla about that and she suggested a friend. This potential EA and business guru/partner would be ready to greet them once they got back.

While Oliver was dubious as to how well Mari would fit in with their duo while remaining unaware of his alter-ego, he trusted her business instincts and that's what Oliver Queen needed to save Queen Consolidated.

He didn't initially plan to ask after Felicity, deciding he really didn't have a right to ask considering he hadn't checked on her after the quake but he grew concerned when Digg made no mention of her and found that feeling worsen when he discovered she'd resigned her position in their IT department.

"What happened to Felicity?" he asked as nonchalantly as possible.

John saw right through his facade and shook his head. "She moved to New York. Last year with all our stuff going on with Vertigo, Walter going missing and the Undertaking, Felicity failed to mention that her uncle who lives in New York was almost killed in that high-tech siege on the city. The one the public swears was an alien invasion but the one the government says was the North Koreans or the Russians. I thought it was something out a Transformers movie but my point is, Felicity is where she needs to be. You got this Oliver and we have your back."

Oliver felt even worse about not being a better friend to Felicity. He had to hear from Lance how he blew it big time not hanging onto a girl like Felicity, even though the Detective sounded relieved to learn that they hadn't been involved beyond her help in his Hood crusade.

"Did you know I had her in holding last year? We were going to charge her with aiding the vigilante and we had evidence that proved her involvement in cases connected to your work. She gave us nothing. Blithely refused to give you up. Without her, we would have lost the Glades entirely. She saved thousands of lives. I might have been the one with my hands on the device but she was the one that disabled it. I have no doubt if we'd had more time she would have discovered them both. I hope you understand what you lost. You might want to consider grovelling."

While he was disappointed in himself about his under-appreciation and disregard of Felicity. He was hurt that she hadn't even called or checked in when they'd televised his return. But life went on and troubles of the city and his family quickly consumed his attention. Discovering Sara to be alive but hunted by the League of Assassins, and trying to protect the city from all manner of threats, not to mention learning that Thea was Malcolm's daughter, it wasn't really a surprise that Mari was brought into the fold. Mari Jiwe McCabe was an intelligent woman and his lying hadn't improved at all in his time away, she didn't have Felicity's gift with computers but she could use the system. Roy joining in an officially capacity soon after. Granted it was largely because The Brotherhood had decided to use him as a guinea pig but that was just the catalyst.

Mari kept him from falling into the same bed as his father by sharing what she knew about Isabel Rochev. Being in the spotlight for most of her adult life as a world renowned runway model and running her own fashion label, she knew high society circles and those people loved to talk. Of course Isabel lived to make Mari's job difficult by insinuating on a regular basis that Mari must be Oliver's latest conquest but Mari was confident in her position. She was more like Oliver's business partner than his EA, even though that's what her contract stated. When Oliver had needed his shares liquidated and Walter couldn't get the bank to buy them, rather than risk them falling into Stellmoor's hands, Mari bought them and invested in Queen Consolidated. Oliver offered to buy them back after they had caught Tockman but Mari told him unless he wanted to pay the new market price, she was keeping them. Seems when a successful business woman invested heavily overnight, stock prices went up.

It all came to a head when Slade reappeared. Oliver thought he had a handle on things, that he was keeping up. But it all fell apart the moment he found Slade in his home, talking to his mother like an old acquaintance. He needed help. He was experiencing a spiral of doubt like he did when Merlyn had defeated him in his first year back. He tried tracking the man down through his Bratva contacts but that came to a literal dead end. It was desperation that drove him here.

 _"Felicity, we... I really need your help. You have every right to tell me to leave but I had to ask. You're the only one I can ask. You're the only hope I have to protect my family and save Starling from whatever Slade Wilson is planning."_

::: ::: :::

Felicity was in her usual attire of pencil skirt, silk blouse and white lab coat when a hesitant knock broke her concentration.

She was surprised to see Bruce poke his head in. Normally he just wandered in quietly, borrowed or took what he needed and sent her a memo. At first she thought he was going to tell her what Tony had done to begin their prank war and she winced, she had forgotten to warn him about that.

"Ah, Maria let some people up to see you. They're in the lounge downstairs. They're making the other guy nervous. There's something off about one of them... Scent is sort of funny. Not entirely human?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Felicity pushed out of her chair, and tucked the pen she was chewing on, behind her ear.

"Do you want me to get security to send them back out?"

"No, I'll go see. Thanks, Bruce," she said quickly.

"No problem." He closed the glass door and she watched him walked down the corridor to the elevator before she checked her phone. She'd switched it to silent because she was deep in coding and she didn't want to be distracted. Sure enough there were four messages from JARVIS, he could have just overridden her mute - just another one of the reasons she had a small crush on him, he had manners and it was so strange considering he was Tony's brainchild. There was also one message from Maria and three from Digg. She quickly opened Diggle's.

 _"Sorry for the short notice. We're in town."_

 _"We need your help."_

 _"Would have asked first but someone was impatient."_

Felicity snorted. So that hadn't changed. She pocketed her phone. Hands in her coat, she exited the elevator to see them standing around the lounge. At least the beautiful elegant African woman had been sitting. It looked like Digg had, had his hands full trying to keep Oliver from searching her out himself.

"Felicity," John greeted her with a wide smile. "Sorry we didn't call first."

She crossed the room and gave him a tight hug. "Would have been nice and you're lucky, Tony has me globetrotting every other week. I might not have been here to greet you and I have no idea what's got the Hulk's panties in a bunch but someone's been drinking bad Cool-Aid and giving off vibes."

No one seemed to understand what she was going on about. So she elaborated. "Dr. Banner, brilliant scientist, glasses, brown hair? Someone, probably the man who shoots arrows as a hobby is making his alter-ego twitchy. We should take a walk and you guys can fill me in on whatever it is you couldn't ask me over the phone."

And that's when Oliver decided to make his roundabout apology.

::: ::: :::

She decided not to go back up to her lab with Bruce still around, so they used Maria's office and work-space on the second floor.

It turned out to be fortuitous for them because Maria recognized the code name Deathstroke and was able to supply them with a S.H.I.E.L.D dossier.

The tracking program, which she had designed with JARVIS' help or the AI's code, wasn't fine tuned yet but she was in beta stage of testing so she promised Oliver she would input Slade's profile and as soon as her network got a lock on him, he wouldn't be able to disappear. She would be able to trace him anywhere.

Goodbye was awkward. She had hugged John and so when she came to Oliver she could see that he wasn't poised for a handshake and his face which wasn't normally so open was hopefully expectant. She let out a breath and hugged him quickly. It was so odd feeling his solid chest again. He wasn't warm like Steve but he was just as hard, his arms felt strong and braced her entire back. Steve definitely had the market cornered on ogle worthy shoulder and biceps but Oliver was no slouch. She wiped away the tear that had escaped, damn that pesky nostalgia, and offered Mari a friendly handshake and a genuine smile.

"Try to keep the boys out of trouble. It's hard work but I don't have much in the way of family and these two really grew on me."

"Like a virus?" Mari offered in the spirit of teasing.

Felicity nodded briskly. "It's catching."

The others moved off and Oliver caught her arm before she could turn away. "I'm sorry. For not being there," he said softly.

"We all deal with grief differently. It just sucked a lot that you broke your promise."

Oliver face fell and he squeezed her arms. Kissing her forehead in a silent apology as he remembered what he'd said when she joined his crusade, that he'd protect her. Leaving her in the Glades wasn't an oversight, it was slap in the face.

"I came back," he said, knowing it wasn't in anyway going to make up for failing her.

"Stop Slade. Save your family and protect Starling, Oliver. Whatever might have been... That ship has sailed. You don't owe me anything."

Oliver let out a breath slowly and shook his head in clear disagreement. "You have no idea how much, Felicity. I'll sleep better knowing you're happy."

"I am," she said, lifting her chin, desperately hoping he wouldn't read the nervousness in her eyes. Being this close to him was unnerving her. Where was Steve when she needed his strength. She needed his quiet reassuring presence to chase away her old fears of unworthiness and abandonment. Her father had left a lot of scars on her heart. And Oliver had unintentionally picked at those wounds.

He finally released her arms and stepped back with a nod. "That's good. I'll leave you to it. Thank you, Felicity."

"No problem," she said, her voice hitching. Damn that dysfunctional vocal muscle.

The elevator doors closed and Oliver was gone.

"So that was him. The friend. Makes sense he'd be the Hood, or Arrow whatever he's going by these days."

She caught a sense of unease and a hard edge to his voice. Her eyes flicked to his face and she caught a flash of emotion before he schooled his expression. It was too fast for her to read but she knew it wasn't admiration. "He does the best he can."

"Or uses whoever he can."

Felicity put a hand to Steve's chest. The steady, strong thump of his heart already doing wonders for the tension under her skin. She was home. He was home and she didn't feel adrift anymore. "I never did anything I didn't choose for myself."

"Are you telling me he never took advantage of your willingness to help anyone who asks? Felicity, you willingly put yourself in harms way for other people. That man has darkness bleeding out his pores and I don't doubt that he struggles to make up for whatever it is in his past that haunts him but it doesn't make this right."

Felicity wrapped her arms around his waist and stared up at him. "I love you. I will help him because it's the right thing to do. Not because of any sense of misplaced loyalty. Deathstroke is as dangerous as his name sounds. He needs to be stopped. Besides how much safer can I be surrounded by superheroes?"

Steve hugged her back and kissed the end of her nose, her hair tickling his face. He smiled without meaning to. "I worry."

"I know."

"And please tell me they're not still talking about controlling the Hulk."

Felicity wriggled out of his arms and took his hand, tugged him into a walk. "We are not calling it that. It's about helping Bruce take back control. The Hulk operates in rage and fear. He only lets Bruce take back the reins when he believes there is no longer a threat. We need a way to lull the raging beast. Wait!" Her eyes widened in surprise and he could see the proverbial light bulb come on. "You're brilliant - you gorgeous, sexy, adorable man. My man," she said standing on her toes to kiss him soundly before running off.

Steve remained where he was gobsmacked, staring after her, wondering what brainstorm he'd triggered that had cause her eager elation.

A nagging sensation in his gut told him that he wouldn't be fond of the answer but being the devoted boyfriend that he was, there was no way he would allow her to barrel headlong into danger alone. Following that thought, he pushed himself into action and jogged after her.


	9. In Your Hands

**Summary:** There's no one he trusts more. She wishes it wasn't necessary.

::: ::: :::

Felicity eyed the older gentlemen waiting in the team conference room with trepidation. He looked vaguely familiar. Maybe he worked for Tony, in which case how did he know Steve and why did her boyfriend suddenly look so nervous.

"I know this probably isn't the best time, and I should have talk to you about this first, but you're going to London in four hours and I deploy tomorrow. There's never a right time."

Felicity gulped, especially when he took both her hands and gave her that look that said, I'm going to man up and give it to you straight. Did she love him with her whole heart, yes. Did she picture growing old with him? Was that even possible with the Super Soldier Serum running through his veins? Did she want anyone else? Absolutely not. Was she ready to don a white dress, front up to a Rabbi and pledge forever… there certainly wasn't anyone else she could picture doing that with, but was she ready. Honestly, she was terrified of what was about to come out of his mouth. Especially if it was, "Will you marry me?"

"I want you to be my power of attorney."

So not what she had been fearing, but still close enough to the truth of where he was in this relationship that her heart spluttered in her chest. "Are you sure, I mean besides the obvious what does that even entail?"

"If I was ever incapacitated, impaired or unable to act for myself, you will be my voice and exact my will. Felicity, considering my line of work, this really can't come as that much of a shock can it?"

"There's no one else? I mean, what about Sam?"

Steve frowned and squeezed her hands. "Felicity, Sam is a good man but the fact of the matter is everyone has a breaking point. I don't want to test his. Ever since they made me what I am, everyone has wanted some part or all of Captain America. There is no one I trust more than you. If I die, I want to rest in peace. Not be frozen in a lab somewhere studied like a lab rat. Or hooked up to machines that will keep my artificially alive so they can get their money's worth in the name of science."

Felicity paled and could keep her body from betraying her emotions over the distress that scenario provoked. "I… I wouldn't let them. They'd have to pry you from my cold dead hands before that ever happened. And any one of our friends would do the same."

Seeing the tears in her eyes, and feeling her tremble, Steve pulled her in for an all encompassing hug. "Love, I'm sorry. I wish the world were as you believe it to be."

She sniffed against his chest and pressed herself closer to his warmth, needing to feel and breath him in desperately in that moment. "I'll do this for you." This close to him, tilting her face up to see his eyes, she knew she was going to get a crick in her neck but he was always worth it. "You better not die on me, mister. In my head, we're always in matching rocking chairs with me, grey and frail, while you still looked like the hunk you always do. Sometimes I hate, Dr. Reinstein just a bit. And then I can't because if he'd never created the serum, we would have never met."

He thought that mental image was ridiculous. He wasn't immortal. He might heal fast, but he wasn't invulnerable. Banner had tested his blood recently, it did show age proteins. Granted they were nowhere near how old he was supposed to be, but that was obvious simply by looking in the mirror. He had no doubt that he wouldn't live forever, whether through the passage of time or falling in battle, his end would come. But for the future he did see, he wanted with her. Steve kissed her lips quickly, blushing when he side-glanced at the two people waiting on them behind the glass wall. He took her hand in his and lead her inside.

As he held her chair for her, he returned her tentative smile. He knew this was only the first of the disagreements they'd settle in the next hour or so. Getting her to the meeting was just the first hurdle. He hoped she didn't storm out once the enduring power attorney paperwork was done and they started in on his will. He didn't have a lot to his name, but what he did own, he wanted to go to her.

::: ::: :::

Felicity needed a breather after that legal ambush. Not since she'd accepted the position as a Department Head at Stark Technologies had she been asked to sign so many documents in one sitting. She was only marginally less mortified that Tony hadn't needed to stay to listen to Steve's Will. They'd called him in to witness everyone's signatures and then he'd left, but not before winking at her. Damn him.

She knew she was being unreasonable, but she'd avoided Steve until Happy told her it was time to drive to the airfield.

When she left the balcony to find him, she all but flew at him in a tackle hug. "I'm sorry I was being a bitch. You just really caught me off guard, and it's not fair. I hate surprises. I don't like not knowing things, Steve," she babbled at him.

Steve didn't want to let her go. It was the first time, they'd be on mission where she wouldn't be in his ear. But he knew this was the first break she'd had in awhile. The past year had been non-stop work for both of them. He wished he could go with her. See the sights of London as they were now, not as they had been in his memory of a life-time ago, when he hadn't had the luxury of soaking in sights and sounds. She was going to spend time with Jane and Darcy, and upgrade Jane's system so that she could back up all her work in a secure data cloud that Felicity promised no one could steal from her - ever.

"Call me up, anytime," he said reluctantly setting her on her feet.

"Even if you're in the middle of fighting a HYDRA agent," she teased.

Steve chuckled. "Especially if it's only one."

Felicity playfully swatted him on the chest and then leaned up to kiss him soundly.

Happy coughed from outside the gym.

"That's my cue. Head down, soldier. And come home," she ordered softly.

Steve nodded. "Yes, darlin'."

Felicity chewed down on her bottom lip and backed out of the room. She closed her eyes against the flood of emotion she felt whenever he called her that. Steve had shared a few stories about his parents, but this was the one that was never far from her thoughts. His father had always called his mother, his darling. His one and only. For the short time that he'd seen them together growing up, before his father had passed, Steve had always wanted to find that some day. He was a romantic, a man out of time - impeccable manners, gallantry and old-school charm. He served his country and protected the innocent without a thought for himself. She was at war within herself every time she saw him in his suit. He was Captain America. She would never ask him to stand down. But just looking at him in that uniform and hearing the stories of what he'd faced, lived through already… she wondered when was it enough. When will he have given enough? Would there come a day when she would have to make good and deliver on her promise, that document she'd just signed. She prayed she never would. She was his woman and he was her one and only too.

"Please, keep him safe," she whispered heavenward.


	10. Secrets & Lies

**Summary:** Tony always leaves a mess in his wake but for his friends, he does his best to straighten things out. In trying to strengthen Felicity and Steve's relationship, he almost drives them apart forever.

References to Avengers: The Age of Ultron

::: ::: :::

Training recruits in the new S.H.I.E.L.D facility meant that he hadn't seen Felicity in person since the whole Ultron colossal fuck-up had happened. She had briefly been home after London, before she was off again to Australia to represent Stark Technologies at a global address, clean energy conference. She also may have mentioned that she was also going to take a closer look at a company called Stellmoor International. Something he knew was connected to the man her friends in Starling had taken down a couple of months ago.

At times he wondered what it would be like to be as fast as Wanda's brother had been, so he could be everywhere at once. But as they had all learned, sometimes even being the fastest man on earth was fast enough.

Steve couldn't be more grateful that Felicity had been out of the tower, out of the country, when Tony had decided to create Ultron. Although, he was fairly certain that she had called Tony repeatedly to give him an earful upon learning what he'd done. He was glad someone else who actually spoke on Tony's wavelength had said it. It had to be the dumbest thing, the certified genius, Mensa Alumni man had ever done. That Bruce had even half agreed to his idiotic idea spoke to Steve of just how scarily those two could be when you left them alone together. And that wasn't even touching the fact that Tony wore the world's most formidable weaponized piece of technology and the other was an invincible, mostly unstoppable beast.

"All work and no play makes Steve Rogers, a very unhappy boy," a warm familiar voice said.

He whipped around so fast he was sure he might have sprained something, either that or he was finally starting to show his age. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes." He was on her in two short strides and almost belatedly had to remind himself not to crush her he was so elated to see her.

"Yo, no PDAs in the common areas," Sam teased them happily. When they parted, he gave Felicity a welcome hug himself. "If you didn't show in the next day or two I was going to give you a call in a plea for mercy. He's been absolutely insufferable."

Steve looked mightily affronted over that comment. "I never thought I'd hear complaints from you, Sam."

Sam shook his head. "I'm not airing my grievances about you. Some of our team just aren't cut out for the kind of drills you run. They can make your ears bleed with their bitchin', trust me. A happy Cap, means a sunnier Cap. You'll go easier on them. And my sanity will thank you."

Felicity tried not to smirk but she could tell from Steve's scowl that she hadn't succeeded.

::: ::: :::

"How are we sure that Ultron won't make a reappearance at some point?" Steve asked Tony as they walked to the team briefing area.

"Vision said he destroyed Ultron. Felicity and I cut him off, so that he couldn't escape into the information grid. We disabled every one of the drones. He's done and dusted."

"And we trust an alien entity that Ultron helped build?" he asked Tony.

"Do you trust your girlfriend?"

The look that Tony was giving him unsettled him to the core. Like he knew something that he was certain Steve didn't. His trust in Felicity was unshakable. She was his rock and his guiding light in all the chaos that surrounded him on a daily basis. She helped him navigate this scarily fast paced almost completely foreign world. She was endlessly patient in teaching him how to use modern technology, whereas Tony's rapid fire babble would give him a headache.

Tony swiped his smart tablet screen and showed Steve photos of Felicity and even though his heart argued otherwise, it looked like she was talking to Bucky. Steve felt light-headed and his heart began to pound. They had been searching for Bucky for over a year. Every moment between missions that they had. She had even talked to him about what she was doing with her special tracking program, that she was using it to continuously update them on Bucky's movements. Sam had almost pinned him down last week before he'd disappeared again.

"I'm sure she has a good reason for not telling you," Tony said reading his expression. "We always start out with the best intentions. Sometimes people get hurt. I'm not saying I'm faultless, I'm not even trying to deflect blame, but there was a reason Ultron could hit us, hard and fast. Without G.I.D.I.O.N., it might have taken him a few weeks longer to pool together resources. He found his targets through us. Everything he needed to build his army and start his war, was right there. Without JARVIS changing those launch codes, it would have been over before it even started."

Steve was still reeling over the photos to even process much of what Stark was saying, except that Felicity's program was somehow involved in Ultron's rise.

"You really don't know much about what she created do you? It's a supermatrix. A detailed and comprehensive information network. Think every intelligence database accessed by a single computer. She built a processor that can analyze all that data and can give you real time feed of your specific target. It collates everything that exists in the digital world and then hundreds of coded algorithms generate statistical data, probabilities and feeds thoose results back to the S.H.I.E.L.D Watchlist or any accredited body, allowed access. That network matrix gives tracking satellites solid leads for global positioning, enabling Uncle Sam to lock down their targets."

Tony could see the wheels turning in Steve's eyes and watched his jaw tighten as he came to the right conclusion.

"We thought that putting S.H.I.E.L.D's secrets out there that we had stopped Hydra's plan. Arnim Zola had uploaded himself and enacted Hydra's end game." Steve felt a headache coming on. The world had changed so much since his day and it was conversations like this that forced him to see just how out of touch he was. He didn't like how easy it had become to decimate the world. People could sit a world away and push a button and it was all over for an entire country. Or in Ultron's plan, all over for humanity.

::: ::: :::

"How is Bucky?"

His voice was so hard and cold, that Felicity thought if she locked eyes with him, his frostiness might actually give her burns. But she did anyway because she wasn't a coward and she loves him with everything she is.

"About as scary and disagreeable as you can imagine," she said her tone even but resigned.

Steve stared her down, his jaw tight. "Where is he?"

"Hiding in plain sight."

He nodded, his eyes breaking away, his hands curled into fists. "You've been feeding us false information for how long?"

Felicity felt her eyes prickle with tears. This was it. This was what she had known was coming, what she'd been terrified of. She knew he'd never understand but she had wanted this to last as long as it did. Her heart was splitting and cracking in her chest and with every second he refused to look at her, she fractured a little more. "I was going to tell you, when he was ready."

She felt him tense, his posture so hard that she thought it had to be physically painful. Then he was gone.

::: ::: :::

There was only one person who could know what she'd done. Only one person with the smarts to break into her encrypted system. No one else they knew had the clearance.

"Does this make you happy?," she cried at him, her eyes flashing with the loathing she felt for him right now. "Not every truth is how you see it, Tony."

He didn't flinch from her venom or her approach. "Pepper has seen me at my worst. She's had to clean up my disasters, had her heart broken, seen every one of my fucked up, self destructive moments. And she's still here. She stays because she know exactly who I am. Steve sees you through rose colored glasses. The shades are off. You're a real person, Felicity. If you were ever going to have a lasting future, he needed to see you. Not his idea of you."

Felicity felt the tears fall in earnest then. "I need him safe," she sobbed. "The Assassin sees Steve, and knows at one point he loved him, but he looks at him now and all he sees is someone he hates. He's full of cold rage. He almost killed him once... I couldn't..."

Tony pulled her close and held her. He didn't whisper platitudes or lies to make her feel better, he simply offered himself as a punching bag, as she beat on him. Beat out all her pain and frustration. And she had to hand it to him, Maria had built her up pretty strong, but he took it without protest.

When she was spent, her eyes puffy and raw and her face a splotchy mess, her light makeup long gone, he gave her a pointed look. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to fix this, or die trying."

Tony swallowed but squeezed her shoulder, in a show of solidarity and support. "Good girl. Although I really hope it doesn't come to that. I like having you around."

Felicity barked out an involuntary chuckle. "I hate you."

"Love you too, kid. Now go."

::: ::: :::

"I could have killed you ten times over," he said without inviting her in. His door was always open. His body was always itching for a fight. Anyone who dared rob him never got a chance to regret it. It was a good way to burn off the excess testosterone and adrenaline coursing through his veins. "I thought I told you all to stay clear."

Felicity knew that wearing one of Natasha's old uniforms would give her the confident facade she needed. The slight pressure it put against her skin helped her suppress the nervous tension threatening to paralyzing her body. She had to wear a padded bra to fill out the top of the catsuit properly but otherwise it was a snug-fit.

"You hate him? You want to hurt him? Kill me," she said showing him her empty hands. "You're angry at the world. You're angry at him. He let you fall. He didn't look for you. He let them have you, torture you, turn you into this... Monster. You followed him, trusted him to have your back and he let Hydra break you again and again. You hate him, you want him to feel your pain... Kill me," she growled kicking the door closed behind, staring him down.

She could see in his eyes that he was startled by her outburst but her words also enraged him because she knew that was exactly how he felt. She hadn't been brainwashed or tortured, made to kill people or suffering more of the same if you disobeyed. But she understood abandonment and feeling betrayed by someone you loved.

He grabbed her by her throat and ran her into the wall. "Don't try your mind games on me. You don't know how many lives I've ended just like this. This arm they put on me, I can bend iron. Your neck so soft, flesh and blood, I can break you like a twig."

"Steve thinks I betrayed him," she croaked, clawing at his hard metal hand, trying to loosen his grip just enough so she could get her words out. "I was protecting him from you. Killing me will prove my point. I'll die, my conscience clear and I know he'll be safe. So do it."

She could see the conflict in his eyes but his face was as hard and cold as the day he'd warned her off. He'd known Steve had help zeroing in on him every place he went. He'd done his homework, learned who she was and put it all together. Steve had woken up from an age where computers didn't exist. The digital age would have been completely alien to him, but for someone like her, it was child's play. He'd found her in Central Park after a fitness class with Maria and said in chilling, not subtle terms to get Steve to cease and desist. If she was half as smart as everyone thought she was, she'd get this wasn't a request. The knife he'd held against her spleen sold his warning.

Tony had jokingly called her out as being totally off her game when she went back to work that afternoon but after a round of sparring with Natasha before she met Steve for dinner, she had herself under control. She knew Steve. He wouldn't quit just because Bucky had warned them not to look for him. According to Sam, Bucky had already told Steve that after dragging him out of the river after very nearly killing him.

So she had kept the warning to herself and started covering Bucky's tracks and planting false leads for Steve and Sam to find.

"You're ready to die for him?" Bucky asked with a sneer. "I thought I was too. But there are fates worse than death. But I guess that's a lesson he will get to live after you die. You're like her, you know. Tenacious. Beautiful. Brave. That's what he must see in you. He sees what he lost and lives the dream of them with you. I had dreams too and they took it all from me. Like I'm going to take his."

Felicity could see his expression at odds with his words. His dark brown eyes were suspiciously wet even as his lips thinned in a twisted sneer. Tony was right in his warning. This was as harebrained as she was ever going to be but Steve was worth it. He was worth everything and in her heart, she was beginning to see that so was James. As broken and bitter as he was, the man who Steve called his brother, was still in there. Scared, lost and damaged but there. She prayed that man would win this fight against the demons tearing at him. The ones that told him he could kill her. That she was a threat to him, his freedom, his mission for survival.

Bucky lifted her higher so that her toes didn't even touch the floor anymore. His grip tightened and her world got hazy around the edges. She gasped and pulled at his clamp like fingers. He only squeezed harder. A tear slipped from the corner of his eye and in his pupils she saw a reflection of herself, her eyes bulging and bloodshot, her face purpling. Her windpipe closed completely and eyes rolled back. It was over.

He felt her go slack, and he started uncomprehendingly at her inanimate face. Something jerked inside him, like an unseen hand had sucker punched him in the stomach and dropped her, like her skin had burned him. Her body crumpled to the floor in sloppy heap. He took a step back and stumbled, breaking a chair that had been in his way. He sat among the broken pieces of wood on the floor and stared unblinkingly at her. He had watched her for awhile now. She could fight. She was strong. She could take a hit. Not once did she try to claw his face or kick him. Why? Because she was ready to die for him. For them, a small part of his brain amended, unhelpfully. She trusted in the image of James 'Bucky' Barnes that Steve had no doubt filled her head with and she was willing to go up against the demons of the Hydra beast, the Ghost Assassin, the Winter Soldier, all in the name of love.

He tore at his hair and roared at the ceiling. He cursed Steve Rogers, the world and most of all his own weakness. He thought they'd taken everything. He only wished they had, because looking at her lying there on the threadbare floor of his low rent, shoe-box apartment, he felt real pain. Like his heart was going to explode in his chest. This was remorse. This was understanding the true cost of his actions. She was right, of all the atrocities he had committed while under the control of Hydra, it hadn't been him. He was a prisoner of war. Brainwashed and tortured. But this, this was something Steve wouldn't be able to forgive him for. He raged his pain away breaking everything in sight. Then tenderly, as though she was only asleep, he laid her out on his bed.

As he framed the doorway, he looked at her one last time. And then he ran.

::: ::: :::

Felicity came awake slowly. She couldn't swallow, but boy could she cough. She almost hurled while she coughed and dragged what air she could into her oxygen starved lungs. It was probably a good thing she'd been so nervous about coming here, that she hadn't eaten a thing. The whole drive over from the facility in Virginia to Brooklyn, New York, she had to coach herself over and over that nothing was going to change unless someone pushed. She'd been naive to think that she could shield Steve from this forever. Honestly, she knew it wasn't possible but maybe she'd wanted to live in her fantasy of keeping him safe for a bit longer. It was stupid. Illogical, selfish and all that, but she had done it anyway.

Steve healed so fast it made everyone but Thor jealous. He was smart, so smart that he could pick up new skills in a snap. He was a joy to teach and she loved looking at the world through his eyes, even if sometimes it made her see her own flaws a little too clearly. He wasn't a child but she couldn't help it. If she could protect him from hurt, either physical or emotional then she wanted to try.

Her make up, which she'd fixed after confronting Tony was completely messed up by the time she reached her destination that she got out her cleansing pads and just decided to go product free. It wasn't like Bucky would appreciate the effort anyway.

He'd really gone all out in his destruction of the place. The only thing left untouched was the bed. Even the kitchen sink was spewing a fountain of water. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she stayed sitting until the room stopped spinning and her head stopped throbbing. Her legs felt like jelly when she stood and she had to catch herself from putting her head into the wall.

Pulling out her phone, she called her friend. "Need help," she croaked out weakly, every word straining her bruised throat. "Can't drive..." Her vision blurred again but this time she knew it was because she was crying. Tears of relief that she wasn't dead, or from a tide of overwhelming emotion, she didn't know. Her brain was too starved of oxygen rich life-blood to process anything anymore.

::: ::: :::

A week passed and Tony had flown in to check on the new Avengers recruits. Nope, he was lying in his own head, he came to see what holier than thou, Captain Rogers was doing.

As usual, he had his soldier face on and he was running drills like it was just another regular day.

Tony knew for a fact that Steve hadn't spoken to Felicity since he'd confronted her. She hadn't told him. If he hadn't hacked her phone records, he still would have been able to tell from the way she went about her days in a robotic way. They spoke to each other daily. Even on away missions. Felicity never smiled anymore. And it was all this big blundering idiot's fault.

"I stand by my initial assessment."

"Oh yeah," Steve asked briskly, "and what's that?" When they first started working together, Steve had called Tony a pale weak imitation of his father. Tony had said he was nothing but a puppet on a string. They'd both grown in their opinions of one another. Not all positive but he liked to think they had an understanding now. If not, a level respect.

"She was too good for you."

Steve tensed before he frowned and let out a bitter laugh. "We all thought Pepper had to be either brainwashed or mentally impaired to put up with you. Since she's obviously clever, it has to be the former."

Tony ignored the jibe. He didn't need to defend his relationship with Pepper, they were rock solid. "Felicity Smoak was heroic long before you came along. She's been a crusader since her teen years and she's fiercely loyal and protective. I hired her, not because she was smart, well there was that because obviously she wouldn't be able to do the job without it, but I wanted her because she had something rare. Genuine, honest, hand on heart, candor. I don't have many friends, real friends. I've got associates, allies, team mates, but there are very few I call friends. But you can bet your ass, I count her as one of them. I could see this coming, but you're supposed to be this beacon of hope, this paragon of justice and virtue. It's all a bunch of crap. You, Steve Rogers are a bigger jackass than I'll ever be. I was trying to get you to see her as a person. I showed you those photos and told you about G.I.D.I.O.N and all you saw was how she somehow betrayed you. Well boo-hoo, you didn't understand exactly what she was doing. No one gets to have all the answers all the time. We make mistakes, it's what humans do. Do me a favor, man up and talk to her. Because as much as I'd love for her to move on and find someone worthy of her loyalty, she's stuck on you like Krazy Glue. Or don't," he said his face-plate coming down already. "Personally, I'm still hoping she'll realize how alike JARVIS and Vision are, so they'll run away together and make pretty pink alien, brainiac babies."

Steve felt his blood boil but Tony didn't stick around, he put his hands down and boosted thrusters before he'd even got out his last words.

Sam jogged up and bent over, catching his breath. "So you going to New York or what?" he asked, squinting up at him between heaves.

"Does everyone around here natter like gossiping old ladies?"

"What else is there for them to do?"

"Obviously, Natasha isn't riding you hard enough," Steve said without any heat. He did even know what he was so upset about anymore. He just missed her. A lot. He'd regretted his approach almost as soon as the early evening air hit his face. He'd gone for a run like he always did when he wanted to clear his head. When he came back, she had left. Natasha still wasn't back to her usual playful, sarcastic self, so he didn't want to leave her with the recruits until she was ready to put in 100%. Clint's wife had given birth last month and he was back from paternal leave. If there was ever a right time to call for some personal time, this was it. He went to go find Agent Morse to request the weekend off.

::: ::: :::

Felicity didn't hear the knock on her office door, she was so engrossed in the code she was reading.

"Global Integrated Digital Intelligence Oversight Network, so that's what it stands for."

Her heart rate picked up and the pen in her mouth clattered against the keyboard, she spun in her seat almost in total disbelief that he was there. At his apologetic expression, and the lack of any trace of accusation or angry, she flew at him.

He held her and ran his hands over her back soothingly as her entire body shook with emotion. Tears fogged her glasses and she ripped them off, staring up at him through her tears. "Honestly, I don't know why I bother with them anymore. The doctor says he can't figure it out, sometimes I see perfectly and other times, code makes me see double. I got a new prescription and I'm still getting headaches, but I'm babbling. I'm going to shut up. Does this mean you understand? Are you still angry. I didn't want to lie to you, like ever. Never. If he's not ready to see you now, Steve, he might never be and I can't lose you. Please don't push him."

Steve took her hands and kissed her lips gently. "You're the one who's most important to me, Felicity. I forgot that for a second and I was a jerk."

Felicity swallowed, and then reflexively touched the scarf at her neck. It was still sensitive. She regretted that action as soon as she saw that Steve had noticed her gesture. Her heart skipped a beat and she forgot to breathe as he reached for the scarf ends. She wished he wouldn't but closed her eyes against the inevitable. Maria was in awe of how fast she'd healed but the marks hadn't faded completely yet. The bruising was in that horrible black and yellow stage.

The room grew so quiet that she could hear only the cooling fans whirring. She opened her eyes too see real anguish and confusion on Steve's face.

"Who did this?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"I went to see him, to ask him… He needed a push and I knew where he was, so I figured who better."

Steve whirled from her and in his outburst of frustration put his hand clear through her glass wall. She jumped at the sound but she wasn't truly surprised. He often forgot his own strength when his emotions were running high. His shoulders were twitching and his head was bowed low. She tentatively touched his back, putting her hand between his shoulder blades.

"You're important to me, Steve. You're important to pretty much, everyone actually. Look at him face to face I understood why you wanted to fight for James. Why you wouldn't give up on him. I didn't see it before and I was so afraid he'd kill you, I kept him hidden and I kept his secret. But you found out anyway, so I did what I had to. He knows now, that you are who you've always been - his best friend. He can choose to continue to hate you for what he is, or he can forgive himself and choose who he'll be from now on."

Steve turned and she was surprised to see tears in his eyes. "Why? What made you think I wanted this? For you to risk your life?"

Felicity touched his cheek and held her hand there. She met his pain filled eyes and smiled gently. "Because I love you, Steve Rogers. And Steve Rogers needed his best friend, so he could forgive himself too."

His thumb traced below the spot that revealed a man's thumb impression and he closed his eyes, a tear spilling down his cheek. He hugged her close and for a long time he didn't move, he just held her in his arms and breathed her in. She was alive. This precious woman, who stared down a shadow, a feared deadly assassin, a man that even scared him in his dreams, and accepted death all to prove her love for him. Stark was right. She deserved better than him but he'd be damned if he gave her up. Not now. Not ever.


	11. Lineage

**Summary:** Three bombs, a neuralyzer, an Asgardian and a wedding. Their lives aren't normal but neither are they.

::: ::: :::

Donna knew she was sitting on a time bomb. More than twenty years was a long time to sit on a secret like this. She didn't know the whole truth but she knew enough to piece together that the man who had father'd Felicity wasn't human. It was why Kay was so protective of them. She'd learned her cousin's secret much the same way she'd discovered that her daughter wasn't entirely normal.

Felicity stopped getting sick around the time she was in grade school. She never broke a bone, not even when she'd fallen badly off the climbing frame in middle school. And spending the day lazing on the beach in the sun without a hat and only a measly SPF 25+, she wouldn't have a trace of sunburn. Her daughter was the envy of all of her girlfriends.

Donna thought her brainiac daughter would have started asking questions when everyone around them routinely caught a cold at least a couple times a year and Felicity remained robust and unaffected. As she exited the lounge and wheeled her carry-on down the halls toward Arrivals she sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. It was time to face the music.

::: ::: :::

Twenty six years ago, she's taken culture trip to Scandinavia as part of her travel consultant's course. Her family had hosted an exchange student from that part of Europe in her teen years and she'd always been curious to visit. A weekend long bender with backpackers during the Norse festival Ostara and nine months later, she was cursing the goddess of fertility, while her mother started prayed for her suddenly heathen daughter and her father was threatening to call the Rabbi.

By some miracle, no one knew who called or how he managed the trip from New York to San Francisco in time for the birth, but her older, only cousin kept glaring at the ceiling and muttering Heimdall and something about sanctimonious pompous jackasses, under his breath the entire 21-hours it took for Felicity to make her appearance.

Donna had met and married a really sweet, doting scientist in the last few months of her pregnancy and he didn't seem to care that they would be making an instant family. He was about to accept a job offer in Las Vegas to head his own biomedical research department at the University, so they were making two big changes in one hit. Welcoming a baby and moving States.

It wasn't until Felicity was four and looked like a stunned glowing firefly in the middle of her hall that Kay spilled the truth about what he knew. Her screeching at him like a Banshee at what he'd done to her daughter might have had a lot to do with it.

"She's half human."

"And half what?" Donna asked, terrified and strung out, but desperate to understand and protect her daughter.

"She's half Asgardian. At least, it's the firmest conclusion I could come to. The time-frame fits. It was the Norse holiday season. I couldn't get an answer out of them. Their treaty with Earth predates my time by centuries. What limited dealings we have had in the past, I've known them to be a higher, mightier than thou bunch and their all seeing gatekeeper, Heimdall isn't taking my calls. We're on our own here, darlin'. I'm sorry."

Donna had looked at him wondering if she needed to call professional help before she actually took in how non-stoic he was actually being. He had tears in his eyes. She threw her arms around his shoulders and sobbed. He held her up and they waited together for Felicity to come out of whatever trance, Kay's flashy thing had put her into.

::: ::: :::

"Mom!" Felicity embraced her mother excitedly and brought her over to where Steve was waiting for them.

Donna stopped in her tracks two-feet from Steve and looked him over. Steve was used to this kind of appraisal but he wasn't expecting it from Felicity's mother. He saw Felicity roll her eyes and wince. She elbowed her mother subtly.

"Mom, this is Steve. Please don't make a scene. So far the hat's working for us," she whispered harshly. It was the worst disguise ever but it was the only way they got around the city, the home of Captain America, freely without being stopped for pictures or autographs every half a block. Thankfully, no one seemed to have caught on yet that Captain America had a girlfriend, or Felicity would be enjoying/loathing, the same kind of attention. Or heaven forbid getting death threats and hate mail.

"You're so tall, and oh my, your arms."

Felicity shook her head and linked her arm through her mother's to drag her into a forward motion. "I will always be confused as to what attracted you to Dad when it's obvious we share a weakness for blondes and muscles."

Steve raised an eyebrow. Felicity never mentioned her father. She spoke about her mother and called her at least once a week, but as far as he could tell, Mr. Smoak hadn't been a part of Felicity's life for a very long time.

At Steve's look of confusion, Felicity reluctantly elaborated. "He was a nerdy type. He had a full head of light brown hair, great skin and he only wore glasses while he was working but you'd never see him lift a dumbbell. Heavy lifting for him consisted of Particle Physics by Harrison Wells and Ingenuity of the Modern Age by Reed Richards."

Steve nodded. It didn't explain his absence but at least he could create a partial picture of a man like Dr. Banner in his mind. Perhaps that was why Felicity had gravitated to Bruce first out of his teammates. He may have reminded her of her father. He was saddened by the thought that he hadn't considered before now how Bruce's abandonment of the team, however, understandable, might have impacted on Felicity. They had quite close. And now that he thought on it. It had been a familial relationship. He had mentored her in physics and she had shared with him the advances in computer science. They shared mutual interests outside the lab too. They loved British comedy. He often felt like an outsider when he walked in on Happy, Bruce and Felicity enjoying reruns of their favorite shows. He tried to watch with her but growing up poor, he'd never indulged in the past time of the picture tube and popular television just seemed to remind him how depressing the state of the world was. He preferred to read a good book over spending time in front of a screen. Although recently Felicity had introduced him into the world of fantasy films and he'd discovered one of the last books his mother had ever bought for them to read together, The Hobbit, had been made into a series of movies. He'd loved that book so much, it's message of honor, duty and friendship appealing to his deeply rooted beliefs that he thought he'd give the film a chance. He hadn't been disappointed. The storytelling had been masterful and he was in awe at what modern technology was able to capture and portray. He had felt completely immersed and afterward he'd let Felicity convince him to watch the other movies. Apparently the writer, Tolkien, had written other books and they'd also been made into films. He enjoyed watching Fantasy with her. Sci-Fi tended to feel a little too real to him. And he didn't need more of that in his life.

The reached the exit of the terminal and they waited at the cab stop. He held up his hand to call for a ride before turning to Felicity's mother.

"We caught a cab, I hope you don't mind," he explained to Donna. "I don't own a car. And my bike is only licensed for two."

"Oh." Donna shot Felicity an excited grin. "He rides. You always did have an attraction to the bad boy."

Felicity closed her eyes and prayed for serenity. "Don't confuse us, Mom. Steve is as perfect as it gets. Not a lawless bone in his body."

Steve blushed when she made reference to his body. Felicity smiled widely knowing where his thoughts had gone and ran her hand down the middle of his back in a tantalizing manner. The pattern of her touch reminded him of the way she had woken him up this morning and his body started to stir in response. What the woman could do with her fingers alone, could be illegal. It definitely felt immoral. Not that he would ever voice that thought. He'd enjoyed it far too much. His face flamed. He couldn't thank God enough that Felicity's mother had decided to visit now. The wholesome Catholic boy in him couldn't reason away much more of this fornicating. He could just imagine his parents tsking at him over why he was taking so long to marry this girl. Woman. When it was obvious he was head over feet for her.

Steve avoided Felicity's gaze and told his brain to get out of the smutty trove it had decided to track through. They were in company, very important company. Truthfully, he wanted to ask Felicity to marry him around the same time he'd decided to ask her to be his power of attorney, but he wanted to ask for her mother's blessing first. He'd already spoken to Kay months ago, and the man had been stiff and about as agreeable as poked bear but he'd grudgingly accepted his suit.

"Considering the attention she can attract, I guess you're the best man to protect her. And you make her happy. Just promise me one thing, Rogers."

"Anything, sir."

"Talk to her mother first. Before you ask, Felicity. If you haven't talked to her already."

"We've talked about the future, but I haven't formally asked her yet. I wanted to do it right, sir."

"Good, son. That's good. Well I have work, so you can see yourself out."

A cab pulled up to the curb and held the door open for the ladies. When Donna smiled up at him and gave him a wink from the passenger seat, Steve mentally counted to ten in his head. Whatever Kay was hoping might deter him from marrying Felicity by talking to Donna, he hoped it wasn't anything too outlandish. Felicity was the one for him.

After he'd lost Peggy, he thought it was over. He hadn't expected to wake up to a new world without her in it. She was in special care, her memory and strength fading with each passing day. He'd taken Felicity once, to introduce them. Peggy had smiled and shed a tear, saying she approved before she promptly forgot everything again. He felt a little guilty not having gone to see her in a few weeks. Granted shutting down Hydra operations had kept him busy but he also didn't like how he felt when he was in that place. He didn't like that he couldn't help her. He didn't like feeling angry, upset at what seeing her like that represented. The time and opportunity they had both lost and could never get back. He was happy now. Which was more than he'd ever expected he'd find again, so he stayed away. He only hurt her and himself when he went anyway. For her, Steve had died decades ago. Just like his dream of them.

They were in the underpass, and he had been helping the driver load Donna's bag, when he'd felt it. The first bomb rocked the entire parking structure across the way. The second blew out the load bearing columns of the bridge overpass. The structure started to buckle and as people ran screaming all directions, Steve never felt more naked or helpless. They'd left the shield at home.

"Felicity, take your mother and get back up against that solid wall by the airport entrance." The bridge they were standing near was cracking under the strain and the dust falling around them, a full collapse was only seconds away.

He should have expected a third bomb, or at least planned for that event. As he went to move the elderly lady in a wheelchair, obviously unaware of the danger as she sat there with her luggage waiting for the courtesy bus, the entrance they had exited only moments ago, blew out in spectacular hail of glass and metal. The entire building of Terminal A cracking under the instability, concrete, plaster and wiring coming apart.

He heard Donna scream. All he could do was watch as, Felicity and her mother disappeared behind a cloud of dust.

Security officers, police and paramedics were already streaming into the area when he came too. He must have gotten hit with falling debris as well. He launched himself to his feet, his first steps unsteady as he jogged with intent to the last place he'd seen Felicity. He felt a warm trickle down the back of his neck and realized he must have an impressive head injury. It would have to wait.

"Felicity," he yelled, his voice scratchy and too soft. "Felicity," he croaked, a little louder.

He found a heeled shoe. Donna's shoe and his heart skipped a beat. A huge part of the building had come down, and it was covering the exact spot he'd told them to go. The area where he'd last seen her. He got his hands under the corner of the rubble and heaved. It groaned but only moved an inch. He didn't dare let it go, just in case she had been pinned.

"Arrrragh," he screamed.

Firemen came and put in wenches and jabbed more rubble underneath the space he'd made.

"Help me, help us." He heard Donna cry from behind the large section of concrete. "Please. My daughter, she's not breathing."

His heart hammered in his chest and Steve moved position, inching as close as he could to where he'd heard Donna's voice. He got his fingers under the slab and heaved with all his strength. More men got in next to him and pulled.

"Clear a hole!" someone called.

They inched it forward and kept pulling and pushing until it pitch forward and it crashed down into the area they'd cleared. The dust settled and he saw Donna crouched over Felicity, her feet bare and her hair was gray from the dust. There was a nasty looking cut on her shoulder and her cheeks were streaked with tears and her make-up was smudged but all she cared about was her daughter. Felicity lay on her side, her glasses nowhere in sight. There was a large ash colored graze and tears in her white leather jacket but she otherwise looked unharmed. Why wasn't she moving?

Steve dropped to his knees and gingerly put his fingers to her neck. He couldn't feel a heartbeat. His own heart stopped. Voices got soft till they faded to nothing. Someone knocked into him roughly and he could see Donna reaching for him but he didn't hear what she was saying or feel her hands. All he could see was Felicity, as one paramedic put a brace on her neck and then shifted her onto a stretcher.

They lifted her and for a second time, his world went black.

::: ::: :::

"Serious concussion. Hairline fracture that should heal up over the next week. Without the serum, he wouldn't have survived. I watched the footage. That piece of concrete would have split a normal skull like a melon. Then there's the spinal injury. Bruising on the top vertebrae, Doc's impressed he could even stand let alone heave hoe half a wall."

"Adrenaline and the proper motivation," Sam supplied grimly. "Cap finished the mission to take down the Helicarriers beat to hell, one collapsed lung and a slug in his stomach. He's a survivor and damn stubborn."

Steve blinked, his eyes feeling swollen and lagging. He wanted them to open but it took a heck of an effort. Must be the morphine. He hated that stuff, how detached from his own body it made him feel. "Felicity," he croaked. "Where is she?"

He tried to turn his head to look around the room. He was in a hospital room. It looked a lot like the one he'd recovered in after he'd fought off Bucky. Sam was there, and so was Tony. It was odd seeing the billionaire at his bedside, but he wasn't about to call him out on it. He appreciated the show of care and if anyone knew what happened to Felicity, it would be Tony. Aside from being her friend, he was also her boss.

"There he is. You sure you weren't grafted with Vibranium? You and your shield seem to be able to take all kinds of punishment.."

Steve winced. It certainly didn't feel like it. He pushed himself into sitting up. Sam was at his shoulder in an instant.

"Slowly, brother. You've been out for three days."

"Felicity?" he asked again more urgently.

Sam shook his head. "I don't know."

Steve looked to Tony. "Her mother. We were picking up her mother. Where's Donna Smoak?"

Tony shrugged then frowned. "We got the call from the hospital that you'd been brought in. Maria patched it through. You're Felicity's primary, but I'm her second. If she'd been brought in too, they would have called me." He tapped a few keys on his phone. "J.A.R.V.I.S. can you put me through to Felicity's mother."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark but Donna Smoak is unreachable at this time."

"Okay, did we get a call about Felicity being injured? Which hospital was she taken to after the accident?"

"All records of Ms. Smoak being injured in the bombings have been removed from official reports. However, you did visit her in hospital before she was moved."

Tony stared at Steve. "Son of a bitch. He mind-whammied us."

Sam frowned. "Who? And they can do that? Well Vision has this freaky mind thing going on but he wouldn't use it on us, would he?"

"Her intergalactic super spy uncle," Tony explained to their uninformed friend. "He has Felicity, I know it."

Steve gestured to his leather jacket that was on the back of the chair Tony was standing in front of. "Call him. I need to see her."

::: ::: :::

Donna paced the length of the clean room, that had been made up to look like a bedroom. It's what she did every day since Kay and swept into that hospital to whisk Felicity away.

"What are you doing?" she cried when a four man team of men and women in black suits entered Felicity's treatment room and began unhooking lines and monitors.

"Donna, you have to trust me. They won't know what to do with her here. My people will give her the best care, I promise you."

"Steve. We can't just take her without telling him. He'll probably turn the world upside down looking for her."

"He knows where to find me, and if he's smart it's the first place he'll look. I'd tell him if I could, Donna but the man's in a coma himself. Right now, we worry about our girl, okay."

"And him?" she said gesturing to the spaced out Tony Stark. "I mean, he's Iron Man. Doesn't it feel wrong to…" she made the gesture of using the Neuralyzer.

"No. Not at all. That man is a serial pain in my back side. If my moral conscious would allow it, I'd wipe the last two years from the man and make him forget we ever met. He's been more trouble than his father ever was."

Kay felt his pocket vibrate and saw J calling. "He's here isn't he? Well let the man in."

J appeared a short time later, a small entourage trailing behind him. "I told him Kay? Who's Kay. I don't know any Kay. But he was like all," J gave him a stoic glare. "And I mean, come on. It's Captain America," he whispered out the side of his mouth. "And he's using a crutch. It's like trying to lie to your grandpa, who's a war vet, and if he wasn't lame and decrepit he would turn you over his knee and whoop your ass," he finished with a chuckle that no one shared. His eyes darted back the man framing the door. "You're gonna beat me with that aren't you," he said shooting his gaze to Steve's crutch.

"Agent, I suggest you move. Right now, so I can have a word to your partner," Steve said pointedly, his impatience showing.

J whipped his head back to Kay. "I'm gonna go check on the… the thing, downstairs."

Kay didn't take his eyes off Steve. "You do that." And J didn't hesitate. He made a quick exit.

"It didn't occur to you that I might need to know that my fiance is alive?"

Kay raised an eyebrow, while Donna shrieked and the two men in the doorway startled.

"When did you get engaged?" Sam asked.

"Did I miss the party? How did I miss that party?" Tony frowned deeply wondering if that was an event Kay might have flashed from his memory. He was going to ask J.A.R.V.I.S. to start making audio recordings of all his meetings from now on.

"Did you talk to Donna yet? I don't think you have, otherwise you wouldn't have been so concerned over Felicity that you've completely disregarded your own medical care, to hustle on over here."

Steve glared at him. "How can you be so cavalier about her condition? She didn't have a heartbeat. She was almost crushed by several tonnes of concrete. I could be bleeding out, unable to use my own two feet but I'd find a way to make sure she was okay before I looked to myself."

"Son, if you knew who her father was, you'd understand why I'm certain that our girl will get through this with nothing more than a foggy memory."

"Who's her father?" Tony pipped in.

Donna wrung her hands and brushed back the hair from Felicity's forehead. "I don't remember much. We partied pretty hard that weekend, but I met a group of backpackers. Boisterous, confident, charming. Three friends, and a woman who must have been their sister for all the notice they gave her. His name was Fred. Or that's what he said. I remember him being so strong he could lift me off my feet with one hand. Sure I had a bruise on my thigh the next day but it wasn't the only one, so…"

"He beat you?" Steve asked his face twisted in a disgusted expression, his fist tightening in fury at her mistreatment.

Donna's mouth fell open and she hurried to explain. She waved her hands in a defensive manner. "Oh no, these were… let's just say I marked him too. It was consensual."

"Oh," Steve said in a discomforted manner.

Tony shot Donna a lewd smirk. "Wow. Always knew Felicity came from good stock."

"Shut it, Tony," Steve growled.

"So Felicity is…." Sam trailed off speculating and putting together what had been revealed.

"She's half Asgardian. Is what we believe. We haven't been able to confirm that because we don't have their DNA on file. Their movements are outside our governing body. They consider themselves superior to any form of defense we primitive Terrans can muster," Kay said aggravation edging into his usually stoic and controlled demeanor.

"Thor could be her father?" Steve wondered aloud, his stomach twisting at the thought. How could a father not know his own flesh and blood? Although it might explain why Mjolnir had deemed her worthy.

Kay shrugged. "We couldn't know for sure. A DNA test would give us everything."

"Doesn't S.H.I.E.L.D have a medical file for every Avenger?" Sam offered.

Tony shook his head. "Thor wouldn't hear of Fury laying any hand on his brother, but to restrain him until we could retrieve the Tesseract. And Thor has never needed any medical attention. Save when they briefly restrained him in New Mexico when he first landed. I'm starting to get why you're not concerned. They're certainly a hardy, resilient bunch. Hulk smashed Loki around like a piñata yet he got up and walked away like it was nothing."

Felicity stirred hearing all the voices around her but didn't want to open her eyes. It was like knowing the day had started without her but wanting to stay in bed a little longer. She could hear her mother fretting and Kay's dulcet tones, it felt normal, safe and familiar. Until she realized she was no longer a teenager and her last thought had been protecting her mother from a truck-sized piece of falling concrete.

"Mom?" she slurred, her voice rough from days of disuse.

"Oh baby," Donna rushed to her side and hugged her, before remembering her concern and what had left her daughter unconscious for days. "I'm sorry. Do you hurt? Do you need me to get you anything? Oh sweetie, I'm so glad you're awake. Look, Steve's here," she said waving in her boyfriend's direction.

Felicity eased herself up from her resting position and looked him over. He was a mess. He looked like he hadn't slept well in days, his was leaning heavily on a cane, which made him look distinguished not old, and his head was bandaged. "Come sit, you look terrible."

He hobbled closer and winced as he sat. He kissed her cheek. "And you look beautiful. How do you feel?"

"I feel strange. Like I need to get out of this bed and go sparring with Natasha. Is that weird?"

Kay snorted, Donna looked alarmed and Tony opened his mouth, "If she's Thor's daughter. That's not strange at all."

You could have heard a pin drop.

::: ::: :::

"Thor, you giant, blond, Shakespearean tragedy. Show yourself before I sic Natasha on your hairy butt."

There was a loud crash and a feminine giggle before Thor in all his rumpled, semi-naked glory made an appearance.

Donna gasped from where she stood in the hallway next to Felicity and shook her head expressively. "No, not him. I would have never forgotten a body like that. Although, I really can't be sure, because he's wearing black briefs and they can be slimming."

Felicity clapped a hand over her mother's mouth and dragged her away from a befuddled Thor, who looked confused and a little offended.

He and Jane made an appearance in the lounge a short while later. Both wearing matching robes. "What is the matter that you interrupted our evening so rudely," he asked pointedly of Tony, who was only smirking more widely.

"1988, Festival of Ostara. Were you or any of your merry men on Earth?" Kay said without preamble.

Thor folded his arms over his chest. "What business is it of yours, Midgardian? We are the protectors of this realm. Your organization lacks the knowledge and the power to properly defend this planet, what hope do you have to understand the complexities of Asgardian culture and our rule?"

"Can't be all that complex to use protection when indulging in tryst with the locals. Or did your culture not include biology lessons for their young?" Kay bantered in his deadpan manner.

Tony snorted and looked at Jane, who was blushing a rosy shade of pink.

Thor for his part, looked annoyed and if the way his hair was beginning to rise, fast becoming pissed off. An angry Asgardian was not conductive to a peaceful, non-destructive group dinner.

"Thor, is it possible that you or another Asgardian, could be Felicity's father?" Steve asked as diplomatically as he could.

The look on Thor's face was priceless. Jane looked like she was about to faint and everyone who hadn't already heard that theory earlier in the day looked like wide-eyed caricatures.

"I was drunk during that festival. We had just done battle in Vanaheim, we were in a celebratory mood and father was unimpressed. Heimdall would know, but if it eases your mind, I will take this test, you're so eager to perform, Stark. But I will submit only to Jane and the sample is to be destroyed after we are done."

"So long as I get to see what makes him tick, I'm good," Tony said rubbing his hands together.

Felicity heaved a sigh. "I don't know what you're so giddy about. You've seen my blood before."

"Sorry, honey, but his is pure."

Felicity wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue at him. He was such an ass sometimes.

::: ::: :::

There was a collective sigh of relief when the test came back negative. No one was more relieved than Felicity and Thor. It would have made their tentative friendship even more awkward. While she had no interest in being Asgard's champion, the fact that she'd lifted Mjolnir was enough to make Thor wary of her. His exchanges which were once loud and jovial where now strained and cordial. She hated it but she could do nothing to change his feelings toward her. She surmised it came from centuries of trying to earn his father's approval and always falling short. It didn't help that Thor had to die a mortal death for his father to show him real pride and fatherly love.

"I will go to Asgard to seek answers for you, Felicity. There is an old most loyal friend of mine with whom I will have words."

Felicity nodded her thanks. She didn't feel she was lacking for fatherly role models; Kay had never let her feel unloved or without guidance and support but it would be nice to know whose DNA she shared and who he was. He probably had no idea she even existed.

Steve took her aside after their usual dinner ensemble and they retreated to the balcony of the Avenger's tower that overlooked the cityscape of New York.

He was walking without the crutch and even though she knew there was still a small bandage covering the stitches on the back of his head, he'd removed the head wrapping.

Steve took her hands. "I've wanted to ask you since after I met Kay. In my day we didn't wait. Most of us knew we didn't have the luxury. You're my darlin', Felicity. There isn't anyone else for me. Half Asgardian, half Midgardian, even if you never know who he is for certain, I know you. And that's all that matters to me. Please say you'll do me the honor of being my wife," he took a knee and even though every nerve in his body protested the movement, he stayed there, presenting that platinum band of emeralds, showcasing a flawless diamond solitaire. His S.H.I.E.L.D pay-check was astronomical in comparison to what he used to earn with the S.S.R but it was relative to the current standards. It had taken two months of saving to afford her custom designed ring but from the joyful tears in her eyes and the surprise on her face, it was worth it.

She put her hands on his arms and tugged him over to the lounge chairs. Once she had them seated, she was mindful of his head and his injured back, as she framed his face with her hands and kissed his soundly.

When they broke apart he touched his forehead to hers. "Is that a yes?" he asked his voice breathless and tiny bit nervous. She seemed agreeable but she still hadn't said a word.

"You're as backward as they get Rogers but I'll have you," she chuckled.

Steve frowned and squeezed her hand. "What do you mean backward?"

"You introduce me to your old girlfriend, like you're asking for her blessing and then promise me everything you have. You ask my uncle if you can marry me, even though I'm doing the bobcat wild thing, corrupting the pants off you. We lived together for a bit but then Ultron and Bucky happened... Now you finally ask?"

Steve pulled at his ear and rubbed under his chin, in his adorably confused tell and she melted, her scattered thoughts over their very strange day floating away as she just took him in. He wanted to be with her for all their lives. He'd proposed. She was being an idiot. "I'm misdirecting and totally screwing up our moment. I promise I won't ruin the next one," she whispered softly. "What do you say we take the jet and get married tomorrow?"

Steve grinned. "I like the way you think."

"Just us. And maybe Mom, Uncle Kay, Sam, Maria and Tony."

Steve groaned. "Do we have to? If we invite Tony, I'd be rude not to invite Pepper and what about Natasha and Clint?"

"So the whole team then?"

"I say we go alone, tell them what we're doing and if they show up on their own, no one can say we left anyone out."

Felicity nodded in agreement. "Rabbi, priest or celebrant?"

"How about MiB official? Kay might have mentioned that seeing as you have dual nationality the records could be top secret. I like knowing that Uncle Sam doesn't have to know about us."

"You my sexy, soldier are so very smart. Now come to bed, I promise I'll be gentle but I want to get started on our honeymoon early. We never know with us, when the world's going to need you to suit up. It really does get irksome."

Steve stood dutifully and followed her inside.

They got married in ultra private ceremony surrounded by their closest family and friends on a small Hawaiian island. Tony had sprung rides for everyone and Felicity knew that even though Steve might have wished Bucky was there as his best man, he was happy with Sam as a stand in.

Christmas Eve would never be the same again. They took a walk along the beach in Oahu and saw in Christmas Day watching fireworks, listening to carols drifting down the shore as husband and wife.

Their lives were surreal but utterly perfect.

Steve held her close, their toes sinking in the sand as the gentle waves brushed over their feet. Her lace dress tickled the fine hairs on his legs but it didn't bother him. Every sensation, every scent and sound, sold this moment. It was real. Her hair smelled of plumerias and hibiscus. She was warm, and solid in his arms. His heart felt light and he felt at peace. He never thought he'd have this. A place to call home, a partner in life with whom he could let his guard down with. Someone who saw everything-his flaws, his character weaknesses, the ghosts of the past he struggled with, the doubts he had that he carried as the man before the Serum, the ones he still fought in the quiet moments. A woman who could see it all and still accepted him. She was his soulmate and today she had pledged herself to him in every way.

"Today, tomorrow and for eternity in the kingdom to follow. I am yours. Your equal, your help mate, your wife."

And he was hers.


	12. Forever & Always

**Summary:** White sand, clear ocean and not another soul in sight, still even superheroes have doubts.

::: ::: :::

Felicity hurtled to a stop. Only just keeping herself upright by grabbing her knees and hunching over. She heard more than saw Steve, slow and double back, jogging on the spot next to her.

"We can call it a day," he offered.

"Muscle cramp," she heaved. She waved him on. "I get why Sam hates training with you." She winced, regretting forcing so many words out with her limited oxygen intake.

Steve continued to keep his legs warm with stretches. "Sorry," he said his tone at least a little apologetic. "I spent so many years praying my lungs didn't actually burn a hole through my chest, I actually like feeling the burn elsewhere for a change."

"Well feel the burn," she groused gesturing to the seemingly endless stretch of beach ahead. "I'm only holding you back."

Steve stopped moving all together and caught her around the waist. He effortlessly swung her into his back and held her piggyback style. "I can think of a much better way to exercise," he said with an uncharacteristic lurid smile. "Don't think you're off the hook though. You're warming down when we get back. Don't need you seizing up on me. What kind of honeymoon would that leave us with?"

Felicity was left gaping over the audacity of his insinuation that she could ever be less limber than him. Women were naturally more flexible thank you very much. But she also didn't get a chance to protest since he took off at twice the sped they'd been running, without any warning and all she could do was hang on as her shriek was caught up in the breeze he left in their wake.

Turns out they didn't make it back to their secluded bungalow. Felicity had put her down his shirt to pay him back for his showing off, and she'd almost caused him to stumble when her hand brushed over a particularly sensitive erogenous zone.

They lay on top of their clothes, in the shade of large palm tree with Felicity resting on Steve's chest. She was drawing idle patterns on his sweaty skin and he was running his fingers up and down her back.

He loved the feel of her weight on him, he hated the idea of moving, her petite proportionate curves so soft, smooth and warm never ceased to stir him into a daze of passion. The ocean breeze was the perfect balm to the heat they had generated between them, that right now he would feel totally relaxed and blissed out, if it weren't for the nagging feeling of sand rubbing where it had no business being. That and he was fairly sure that ants were about to start a nest in his hair.

"We need to move," he said with great reluctance.

Felicity giggled. And kissed his chest before moving off him. "I was wondering when your sense of propriety would kick in. Steve Rogers making love in the sand dunes, where anyone might happen upon us. How scandalous," she teased playfully.

Steve sat up and hauled her back into his lap, pinching her bottom for her comment. "You ma'am are an insatiable minx who has me completely under her spell."

He said that with the tone of a man utterly embracing his lot in life without a trace of remorse or suffering and Felicity looped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly, while he pressed soft kisses over her throat. She let out a breathy sigh at his attention before she tugged on his hair to get him to look at her face. "I love you, Steve. And I count myself lucky that you love me back."

"I like to think we're blessed and it was divine intervention that had me in the Buy More the day we met."

"Why did you walk in there? I remember hearing you muttering about watch dogs and Stark Tech and flying under the radar..."

"I saw how easily the digital world could find someone, compared to months of data analysis and regular old grunt work and felt out of my depth. Sam helped a lot trying to introduce me to all things modern but I guess I just wanted to try and go at it alone. I was actually looking at buying Windows for Dummies."

"Oh I'd never hear let Tony hear you say that. He and Gates are like the best of frenemies."

Steve brushed her hair back from her shoulders and held it in his hand. "Not yours?"

Felicity let out a chuckle. "I'd wipe the floor with the both of them. But I must have a little dragon in me. I like to keep my treasure horde all to myself. Let the masses have their second rate OSes. Although I can be persuaded into sharing with only people I trust implicitly," she said cosing up to him, so that not even an inch separated them.

Steve swallowed hard as she brushed up against particularly alert area of his anatomy. They'd never make it back to the bungalow at this rate.

"What do you say, Mr. Rogers? Can you be trusted to take care of your wife?"

He blinked slowly and then nodded, with conviction. "Absolutely." He then proceeded to demonstrate just how committed to that task he was.

::: ::: :::

Hunger and the dire need for a non abrasive surface eventually drove them back to their lodgings.

Lazing on the king-sized bed, with a unobstructed view of the sun fading on the horizon, he watched the end of a perfect day come to a conclusion. He felt her fingers carding through his hair over and over. The sensation so gentle and lulling that he could feel his body beginning to doze.

"Do you think we'll ever just be able to unplug like this again? Growing up I never thought I'd want to be a 9 to 5er, with the Prius, a husband, two kids and a dog. Firstly, I've never been an animal person and secondly, I watched my Mom get her heartbroken and I swore that wouldn't be me. I actually didn't pay any attention to guys until college. All through high school I found them totally self absorbed and uninspired. Might be why I've always been attracted to older men," she kissed the hollow at the base of his throat and smiled over him. "Now I have a husband, and all I want is to have that suburban house and a regular 9 to 5 and no threat of world ending cropping up every other Thursday, to tear you away from me."

Felicity pouted and rested her cheek against the center of Steve's chest. Seems she more than had a type. She really had always picked the older man. Cooper had been two years her senior, Oliver was four years older than her and there was also that brief, never-to-be-mentioned-out-loud, crush she had harbored on Walter until she discovered he was married to Moira Queen. They were very discreet and as a new resident to Starling after accepting a graduate position at Queen Consolidated, her crush had died a quick death when she'd discovered their photo on Walter's desk after fixing his computer late one afternoon.

Steve lifted one of her hands to his lips and kissed her fingers, his mouth touching the skin just above her rings. Her Norse stylized wedding band and her delicately designed engagement ring. He then interlaced their fingers and held them to his chest where his heart beat strong and steady. "I don't think you'd find anyone older than me that could keep up with you. Unless they're Asgardian?" he mused aloud, his voice trailing off and a frown stealing over his face.

Felicity felt his muscles tense and angled her face so she could watch his expression. He never kept anything from her so she knew that if she could see his face, she might be able to figure what was bothering him. And hopefully if she hawked him long enough, he'd tell her himself what was on his mind. She was a committed and sincere hawker. And she could out last anyone when it came to a test of wills and Steve in his rare bouts of stubbornness could never resist her relaxed, patient observing until he caved.

Steve focused on breathing and counting those breaths, trying to get his insecurities under control. It was naive of him but after the serum he never thought that he'd come up against any man who could be stronger, faster or best him in a fight. He'd done everything he possibly could to shape himself into a prime defensive and offensive human weapon. He didn't want to squander Dr. Reinstein's gift or his sacrifice and be anything less than what the man had believed he could be. Yet Thor could put him down just by summoning lightening. Vibranium was a rare and impressive mineral but at the end of the day, it was conductive. He didn't think of Thor as a deity, someone to be worshiped and idolized. There was only one God. However he did consider Thor to be powerful, formidable and born physically blessed. Loki was nothing to sneeze at either. He'd heard the talk that had flown thick and fast around the Hellicarrier after they caught the maniac mischief maker. The dark, mysterious, misunderstood brother they called him. The classic bad boy, some had tittered as though he was nothing more than a celebrity who needed nurturing after falling off the bandwagon.

There was a small doubt that nagged at him. What if Felicity's father however negligent and absent he'd been, didn't deem him worthy of his daughter? Up against an Asgardian, what could he possibly do?

"Talk to me?" she prompted, her voice thick with concern. "I don't like that look on your face at all. It's like a 10.0 on the Richter Scale. I feel like we should be preparing to bunker down and pray."

Steve held her shoulders tightly for a moment, clearing his thoughts and reassuring himself of the present. His here and now. He tended to over-analyse, worry too much about tomorrow and lament over the past.

Felicity had freed him. She had taken his orderly but gray world and injected it with breathtaking color and warmth. She was teaching him to live in the present. To relish and take joy in the little moments that were the gift of the here and now. Their lives were so far from predictable and normal that they could send a therapist into therapy. One day at a time, one crisis at a time, one foot in front of the other. It was their daily mantra. It was the only way they could enjoy having a life.

"I don't even know what customs Asgardians practice. Are there such things as betrothals or contracts, ranking or social classes..."

"Whoa, hold up," she said, her eyes widening. She propped herself up on her elbows, locking eyes with him. His insecurities were there in those aquamarine depths plain as day. "Okay, listen to me, Steve and listen up good. I'll put this down to the fact that we only just discovered I'm not 100% human but I can guarantee you, even if it turns out Odin himself is my dead beat father, it won't mean a damn thing to me. I know who I am. And I like to believe that the person who I love and loves me, does too. So whoever Thor thinks he might be, it doesn't matter, he can take his white horse and ride right back to Asgard right now if he thinks this woman is in any need of rescuing. I pledged you forever and always. And I don't make promises I don't intend to keep."

Steve tried to blink away the burning sensation in his eyes, and did his best to breathe through the tightening in his chest but it was no use. She saw right though his efforts when he saw her eyes soften and her mouth tilt into that soul stirring, radiant smile of hers, his heart burst anew. How did she do it? How did he fall in love with her deeper each time? It terrified and thrilled him in equal measure. If anything ever happened to her, he wouldn't survive it. She was his to hold, to protect, to cherish. Heaven help the man, woman or galactic traveler that tried to come between them.

"I love you, my darling. I'll keep telling you that everyday of our lives together. Although it might be nice to hear it back just as often too," she said her voice low and breathy.

He flipped her onto her back and starting at her navel, kissed his way up to her plush, rose-tinted lips. He punctuated each kiss with a declaration of his love.

"My wife," he said, touching his lips to where their intertwined hands rested against her belly. A precious place where he dreamed some day would nurture and shield their growing child.

"My heart." He moved a little higher and kissed the valley between her breasts. Smiling as he felt the shift in her heart rate the moment the breath from his mouth ghosted over her skin.

"My strength." Steve lifted himself higher and reached to press his lips to her forehead. He valued her insights and her quick mind. She was his lighthouse that helped steady and navigate him through every storm that came their way.

"My one and only," he said against the shell of her ear, teasing the earlobes that tantalized him with many an alluring earring. The best part about having her in bed was that the aesthetically shaped creations were naked and free to be devoured.

When he finally took her mouth, he whispered to her first, barely a hairsbreadth from her lips.

"You're my woman, Felicity Smoak-Rogers."

A long while afterward, their bodies thoroughly sated and their hearts racing, Steve kissed her temple.

"There is nothing I wouldn't do for you," he said firmly. "If I have to battle through all the realms to keep you by my side, so be it."

Felicity snuggled deeper into his arms and pressed against his side. "And I'd fight just as hard to be there. But for now, no more talk of aliens or enemies. Unlike you, Mr-My Super Metabolism-Means-I-Look-Fantastic-With-Two-Hours-Of-Sleep, I need my beauty sleep. So hush and just hold me now, okay."

Steve let out a breath and forced himself to focus on her soft exhales and her heartbeat. And as always, her presence chased all his fears away.

"As you wish."


	13. What We've Lost

**Summary:** Felicity tries to get Natasha to talk about how she's feeling. References Avengers: Age of Ultron

::: ::: :::

It happened when Felicity was up to her elbows in dirty greasy water, scourer in hand, cleaning away.

Before that moment, as rare as it was for the guarded, enigmatic woman to make an appearance, Felicity was always a little too intimidated and in awe of her to go out on a limb and impose on Natasha's time in an attempt to strike up a friendship.

"I don't know how you can stand all that plaid. Please tell me you don't actually like it? I was under the impression you had chic and sassy style."

And that's when the wall came down and Natasha Romanov became a real person with a sense of humor and good taste.

Steve had been offended by their team up, protesting his clothing choices but he hasn't offered a lot of resistance when they'd taken him out to update and spruce his wardrobe. He certainly wasn't complaining later that night either when Felicity's reaction to him in a dark purple button down and black dress pants had them staying in rather than making their dinner reservation.

::: ::: :::

Her face pressed against the mat and her left shoulder threatening to pop out of its socket, she probably could have chosen a better time but these sessions were really the only moments she had alone with Natasha.

Felicity had suspected that the beautiful femme fatale had been falling for their quiet resident scientist and she'd been all for it. They both deserved to find happiness and ever since Bruce had decided it was impossible to be with Betty, her father's fixation and relentless pursuit of the Hulk saw to that, he had closed himself off to the possibility of being with anyone. But Felicity saw the way his eyes tracked Natasha. Just as her demeanor softened whenever she was around him. They would be good for each other.

So when she heard the team had returned sans Bruce, her first thought was for Natasha.

"He took the jet. Did you track it?" She did her best to ask nonchalantly, with her lips half obstructed.

Natasha immediately released her and stepped away, her walls coming up and her face shuttering all emotion.

Felicity rolled into her back and teased her shoulder, rotating it and stretching it. "Natasha," she appealed to her friend softly. "He was my friend. Something changed out there. Tony mentioned that Wanda messed with you all but he also said that just before it all went totally FUBAR that you two might have had a moment."

"Tony has a big mouth," Natasha snapped tiredly but without any heat.

Felicity sat on the mat crossing her legs and waited for Natasha to join her. Which after a stubborn token of brief resistance, she did. They sat shoulder to shoulder, sweaty, breathing heavy but comfortable.

"I told him a little about what they did to me. In making me what I am. I wanted him to understand that while everyone might call him a monster, in reality it is the soulless, merciless inhuman individuals out there who are the real monsters. Ones who would take little girls and shape them into remorseless precise instruments of death. Girls who become women who lie, seduce and kill. Women like me. Turning into a raging Hulk who has a conscience, who feels empathy and seeks solace, is no monster to me."

Felicity watch Natasha's lips thin and her jaw harden. She didn't know how the woman might react but her heart burned for her to do it. So tentatively she put her arm around Natasha's shoulders.

The ultra composed woman broke and made a painful, sharp, wounded sound, before falling immediately silent. Clutching at Felicity so hard that it actually hurt. There would definitely be bruises.

Natasha shook and trembled with the emotion she fought to suppress. This was her conditioning. To never show weakness. To kill all emotion unless it was to lure a mark, to fake it until she made it. Felicity knew that it was only because of Clint Barton that Natasha ever had the opportunity to reclaim the innocence of the girl she had lost so many years ago. S.H.I.E.L.D used her skills and gave her purpose but it was Clint and now the Avengers that had given her a reason to fight to live.

It took awhile, but Natasha finally stopped shaking and relaxed her grip. She didn't apologize. After all, Felicity had offered to be her support, she only probably hadn't known what to expect. Natasha was used to her body just being a vessel. Something to be used, filled and moved on. Physical urges were easily taken care of. It hadn't really mattered until she'd started noticing Bruce. After that she had started to want the act of being connected to someone physically, being laid bare and held, maybe even to be touched instead of always the seducer, the manipulator... She had wanted to experience intimacy and she had wanted it with him.

Of all of them she had felt drawn to Bruce. Maybe it was his earnestness. Or maybe it was how well he hid the beast inside behind perfect manners and an unassuming facade. Or maybe it was how well he'd disarmed her with his quirky sense of humor the evening they first met. Whatever the reason he'd found a crack in her wall and every time they spent any time together, that crack grew until she was so sure that the whole world could see how she'd fallen for the mild mannered scientist.

"I thought of any man I'd ever met, Bruce would understand what it's like to fight against this pit inside you that wants to consume you. It's all you know and it's wrong, you feel it and you fight against it, every second of every day. The struggle is constant. It would be so much easier to not care, to let it take over, and not fight. I thought it would be easier to have someone who understood and could help me fight. We would fight together. Isn't it always that love they're trying to feed us. Stronger together... Is it a lie?"

Felicity shook her head, her own eyes tearing at the rawness and anguish she saw in Natasha's eyes. She still hadn't cried, not one tear but her eyes were very bright. "I don't know. Steve makes me feel safe, wanted, irreplaceable, but at the same time I know if it was him or the world, I'd choose him. Is that strength or weakness?"

Natasha didn't answer but she seemed to understand what Felicity meant. Love couldn't be measured as a risk or asset. Or in pros or cons. It was an act of faith. And it took courage to act on it and commitment to foster it, make it grow, so it's foundation was solid and unshakable it could endure anything.

"I can't claim to know him the way you did. Although, the Hulk didn't squish me the first and only time we met."

Natasha smiled. "I thought Steve was going to burst a blood vessel. Sam obviously didn't do his job that day."

Felicity shook in exasperation over the memory. "It was my idea. It was only fair I play the guinea pig. We'd already talked it to death. Steve wasn't budging and neither was Bruce. So we gave them a push. Steve wasn't supposed to know until after we'd succeeded."

"And if you'd needed a body cast?"

"I trusted that there was enough of Bruce in the Hulk's psyche that he would at least recognize me. Whenever we'd worked together he said he liked my humming. A lullaby is just an expansion on that."

"You were very brave and stupid," Natasha concluded.

"I think they go hand in hand. Fear tells you to run, for self preservation's sake. Bravery says to stand your ground. I believe everyone's afraid of something. Bravery is telling fear - shut up, I know it's dumb but I'm doing this anyway."

"While Steve was about to blow a blood vessel, the rest of us were just plain gobsmacked. Even though Tony's job was to put a shield up between you if Hulk got twitchy, I think he was too distracted by the picture of serenity on your face."

Felicity chewed her lip and nodded. "My mom's secret super power is that she's a baby whisperer. She says they can sense fear, so even though you might be out of your mind with worry, you're tired and their crying is driving you mental, you don't let it show. She can sing them to sleep. Sick, overtired, chronic colic, energizer bunnies, clingy babies, she's worked her magic on all of them."

"Are you saying you looked at Bruce and saw a giant green kid?" There was a suspicious tilt to her lips and Natasha's left eyebrow was hiked dangerously high.

Felicity narrowed her eyes at her. "Yes, a scared, irritable, enormous child. I assumed his psyche is under developed. His first instinct when threatened, according to Bruce was to run and hide. Find a quiet place away from everyone. He only fights back when cornered or if it's Bruce's call. I had to relate to him as a non-threat even more so, someone who cared. It's why I moved slowly, always kept my hands where he could see them and didn't stop singing, soft and soothing."

Natasha closed her eyes and lifted her face skyward. After a moment she let out a breath. "And it worked. Because of you we were able to take Bruce out in the field and having the Hulk there to smash through reinforced metal doors and flip tanks was a huge asset to our assaults on HYDRA operations. I don't think anyone would have been comfortable with having the big guy riding in the jet, no matter how much of a team player he turned out to be."

"If you want to find him, you know we can."

Natasha shifted her face and looked at Felicity. Mutely she nodded.

"Bruce is one of the smartest guys I know. But he's also one of the most clueless. We both care about him. Don't let him lose himself in his misery. Only you can bring him home."

Natasha stayed silent but after a moment she stood abruptly. "I appreciate your efforts, Felicity. I do. But we've got ten minutes left before I've got recruits to see to, so up." She collected to batons from a weapons rack and settled into a fighting stance. "Ready?"

Felicity winced in anticipation of the beating she was going to get. At least Natasha seemed to be more like her usual syrupy self, like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth and dogs wouldn't bark at her. Suckers.

::: ::: :::

Steve found her in their bath up to her neck in ice water. She had a cloth over her eyes but she heard him come in.

"Well that explains it," he mused with a smile in his voice. "Nat cracked an old man joke and I thought either Bruce's back or sent a postcard at least."

"Instead she had fun using me to remodel the training room."

Steve sat on the lip of the tub. "I've seen your form. You don't need to push yourself this hard. I thought we agreed you'd never have to go on missions."

"And if it ever got out that Captain America has a woman at home, I don't want to be a liability. I'm surrounded by people who are either super powered or know how to defend themselves. I refuse to be the weak link."

Steve kissed her cheek and lifted the towel covering her eyes. "I truly pity the person who dares to insinuate that. This from the woman who looked at the Hulk and saw a giant baby in need of a hug." He tried not to laugh, really he did.

Felicity scowled at him and splashed him with a tide of water, aiming to drench him from head to toe.

Steve leaped out of the way but some of it still hit him, the seat of his pants catching the most of it. He disappeared into their bedroom, smiling broadly as he went. Sure he could smile about it now. At the time he'd wanted to throttle her. Maybe shake some sense into her. Crazy woman.

"At least she's talking again," Felicity mumbled to herself, slouching deeper into the water even as it bit into the warmth of her neck. "Even if it is to make everyone laugh at my expense." She heard rustling and the heavy slap of his pants hitting the floor outside, and then another subdue but unmistakable guffaw. "And shut it, Steve. I can still hear your snickering from here."


	14. Sacrifice

**Summary:** AU Civil War - Marvel Comics storyline.

Relationships are strained to breaking point when a new law is passed.

Warning: If you've never read the Marvel comics series...prepare for major spoilers. Comic references, including death.

::: ::: :::

 **Part One: Superhuman Registration Act**

"What do you think this Act represents, Tony? You can't be that naive that you don't see it. Where's the guy with all the questions, always pushing boundaries. I'm seeing it clearly now, when the big guns come out, you're the first to get in line. You never gave up making weapons, Stark, you just wanted to be the only one with the power of control."

"The Superhuman Registration Act is about accountability. It stops Joe Average with his low-IQ and out of control powers from donning a mask and trying to stop a bank robbery only to get dozens people killed in the process. It stops the Avengers from being painted as the villains because we only answer when S.H.I.E.L.D calls us in. Can you imagine the kind of fallout we would have had over New York if we'd just been rogue agents fighting in the street? Sure we stopped an alien invasion and we saved lives but how many died? Hundreds and hundreds more were injured. If S.H.I.E.L.D hadn't made the call, all those deaths, all that loss would have been 100% on us."

"No," Steve said his voice rising. "It was all on Loki. He started a war and we were the only ones who stood a chance at stopping it."

"And it was S.H.I.E.L.D making weapons with the Tesseract that drew their attention in the first place."

"So you'll hide behind their skirt and cower, wait for orders and a pat on the back while HYDRA and organisations like A.I.M, Roxxon and Oscorp turn the world to ashes? Nothing good ever came from forcing people to compromise their identity. They're calling us out in the name of safety for all. But what's next? A metahuman genome (Steve's politically correct way of saying mutant) registration, a religious registration? We put it out there, you can't take it back. It's fear mongering and you know what happens when fear gets out of control. People die. Innocent people. So no, I won't register. It won't support them in taking away people's right to live in safety and anonymity. No government should be able to dictate whether you use your abilities or not and who is a target and who isn't. Captain America stands for the little guy and this Act, that's bullying in its highest form."

Felicity only walked in on the tail end of the argument but the news of the UN decision to support U.S congress' Superhuman Registration Act was all over every media outlet. She wasn't unaware of the talk going on around the compound. She felt the strain on their friendship when Maria mentioned that as newly appointed Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, she would have to enforce the law if it was passed and the Avengers and the Watchlist would be the first to register. Non-compliance would be a criminal offence.

The Avengers war against Ultron and this latest terror attack they had stopped from Baron Zemo and his newly improved right-hand man, an ex-S.H.E.I.L.D operative, HYDRA mole, calling himself Crossbones, had world leaders up in arms. Because no one was calling the Avengers actions sanctioned, all eyes were on them and the American government. And the public were crying out for justice and recompense.

Some minority groups were calling the Avengers a dangerous scourge on humanity and they, and people like them needed to be stopped. The government knew the reality of the situation that there were threats normal protective forces were incapable of handling but these groups were causing enough noise that they had to be seen as doing something.

Tony shot her an exasperated look. "Talk some sense into him. This isn't going away. And it's not like they don't have the power to lock us down already."

Felicity knew what Tony was implying. Her oversight network. Accessing it they could find anyone, anywhere. Granted it wasn't powerful enough to track hundreds at once but a few key players would be no problem at all.

"This Act gets voted, you'll have no choice."

Steve ground his jaw, his hands curling into fists. "All it will do is start a war on home soil, brother against brother."

Felicity felt her pulse race. If it came down to the line, she knew what she would do. Oliver, John and Roy were no Superhumans but you could guarantee that Lance and his taskforce would paint them that way. And Oliver would never risk his family by revealing his identity. Just as she knew that Steve wouldn't change his mind about this. Basic human rights were the foundation of his beliefs. This took away their right to freedom. It would be sign up or go to prison. There would be no choice for peaceful anonymity.

Tony out a hand on her shoulder. "Rodey said they're already assembling local enforcement squads. This is happening. They're making Iron Man the face of it. Don't let him start a war over this."

Neither of them moved or said a word until Tony had left the room.

Felicity looked at Steve and could see the burning anger and hurt all over his face. She touched his cheek and with gentle strokes of her thumb, she got him to stop grinding his teeth. He closed his eyes and buried his face against her neck. "I'm with you. This is wrong. Forcing people to declare themselves.. I... If we have to run." She closed her eyes against the fear brimming in her chest. She blinked back tears. "When we run, I'll use my backdoor access to shut down the G.I.D.I.O.N matrix. Tony will be able to rebuild it, but it will give people time to get underground, go off-grid. If Vision stands with us, it'll give us even more time," she said softly.

Steve straightened and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I won't ask anyone to choose sides. This is my stand. Darlin' if you do what you're saying, you won't just be an enemy of the State. They'll make you their priority target. We will have everyone hunting us, S.H.I.E.L.D, the CIA, the FBI, A.R.G.U.S, the NSA, Interpol..."

She kissed his lips in a soft peck before smiling at him with a twinkle in her eyes. "Oh dear, husband, I know all the acronyms better than anyone and yes, those who know me might suspect but there won't be any proof. And let them come. I've been itching to try out my offensive training."

Steve groaned and gave her a narrowed glare. "Felicity, sometimes I believe you want me to lose my hair. Or at least age ten years in a day."

"Don't worry, Mr. Rogers. I'll protect you and your achy joints."

Steve tickled her for that jibe about his age. Ever since discovering that she could possibly live for centuries, age which had once been a sensitive issue for Steve was now a running joke between them. Felicity shrieked when his fingers found her weak spot between her hip and her ribs. She wrestled free from his arms and took off running.

In her haste to escape her pursuer, she almost collided with Vision who turned intangible at the last second to avoid being barreled over.

He watched them in abject curiosity. Wanda came up beside him, as Steve caught up to Felicity again and threw her over his shoulder.

"They seem happy despite the somber mood around here," she remarked quietly.

"There are dark days ahead. For some, moments such as this of cherished love, simple joys, will be the strength that allows them to endure the trials that will test conviction."

Wanda nodded, not wanting to delve to deeply in what she knew he must be referring to. If the bill passed, she knew what her choice would be. She hoped she would be able to convince Vision to leave with her. His wisdom and comforting presence had given her the courage to stay among these bold heroes after losing Pietro. It also helped that he was immune to her magic. It felt good knowing he could never be manipulated by her. It meant that every interaction they had was genuine.

::: ::: :::

They were prepared. They had told her mother what was happening and that they would be out of touch for as long as the Act remained in force. They had shifted money into an off-shore numbered account and digitally erased any trace of the transfer history. She gave her friends in Starling the number of a scrambled satellite phone. And they both had go bags stashed at Grand Central with cash, fake IDs and passports and emergency weapons and tech. But it all happened fast and they weren't together when the time came. They thought it best to continue life as normal while Steve spoke out in the open Congressional address against the proposed law.

Felicity had been at Stark Aerospace going over system encryption for a new Airbus when she got a message from an unknown number.

Coming for him. M.

Felicity didn't hesitate, she created a operational cloud in the system she was working on, and using the onboard Wi-Fi, she accessed the G.I.D.I.O.N matrix. Within a minute she'd had uploaded a virus that would specifically target information accessed in reference to individuals who had no priors. It would freeze out each agency from the matrix for a set period of time and corrupt any data they tried to pull from the intelligence information network.

Then she texted Steve, praying that Maria had warned them in time.

Phil Coulson had been firm in his belief that a public register wasn't the way to help metahumans. So they put him in charge of an off-world project called S.W.O.R.D and recruited Maria Hill, once SIC to Nick Fury and made her Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Felicity wasn't disappointed in her friend. She understood why Maria accepted. If she hadn't, someone else would have, some they didn't know, possibly someone who might even have hidden HYDRA sympathies or someone who wouldn't exercise any restraint in actioning the government's directives. Felicity understood that this wasn't a ego thing, or even a career advancement. They both knew that the role was largely a front, answering and pandering to politicians.

::: ::: :::

Steve was at the S.H.I.E.L.D training compound in a simulation with Vision and Wanda when the session shut down mid-way through.

"Steve Rogers, Wanda Maximoff and the entity known as Vision, you are hearby ordered to proceed to Agent Morse office for official Superhuman Registration compliance."

Steve took a steadying breath and shared a look with Vision. "I heard about a special private school upstate. An old war vet I once knew teaches there. Wanda, you don't need to be caught up in this. There are hundreds of others with powers like yours. They'll be able to help you. Vision, keep her and yourself safe."

"Fare thee well, Steve Rogers," Vision intone in a somber voice.

"Thanks, Cap," Wanda said with a nod. "Do you need a distraction?"

Steve shook his head. "Don't get yourselves in trouble for me." Hoisting his shield up, he glanced at the door to the training room and knew they would have agents waiting on the other side.

He took a running sprint at the wall and jumped from it to the support column, to grab at the catwalk two levels above them. He pulled himself over the side and ran along until he hit a dead end. He reached for a maintenance panel to reveal a switch that dropped down a ladder which led to a hole in the roof.

"I didn't know that was there," Wanda said.

"Perks of having a wife who's a tech genius," Steve called down.

Just as he crawled into the space, agents stormed the room. Wanda and Vision raised their hands and didn't resist as they were escorted out.

"Where is he?" an irritated agent growled.

Wanda shrugged. "He was here a second ago. But you know Cap, no one can keep up with him."

"Rogers isn't here. Get security to review all the cameras and lockdown the compound. Orders are to detain. Authorising all units, non-lethals only."

Steve crawled through the ducts away from the system control room and found a grate that lead to the elevator shaft. He knew he wouldn't make it far on foot, he was hoping to get his motorcycle. A set of wheels and something to cover up his uniform would go a long way. At present he stuck out like a neon light.

The sub basement was empty when he crawled out of the lift doors but the second he started the engine, he heard agents yelling.

Two came around down the ramp and another four exited from the other elevator.

He gunned the accelerator and sped toward them. They fired at him the darts bpunching harmlessly off his shield. He felt one hit his shoulder from behind and once he cleared the level. He shifted the shield to his back and did his best to shake off the effects of the drugs.

More shots were fired and he could hear them giving chase, a metal clang told him that someone had decided to be clever and skirt the rules by shooting at his bike. The muffler was punctured.

He pushed the speed a little more and took the corner too fast almost sliding out. He put his leg out to correct his angle and head for the boom gate. He switched the shield to his handle bars and barreled through. All the guard could do was yell after him. He'd been in his booth and Steve was free and clear before he could even get out.

It was only after he had cleared the county line that he realized he'd left his phone in his locker. He pulled into a gas station and called Felicity to discover that her phone was not in service. His heart started to pound. Did that mean she had been taken already for his non-compliance or had they gone after her first? He tried to think of what he should do. He wasn't a tech wiz he couldn't hijack a system and trace her GPS location or access facial recognition databases. And that's what she was planning to disable anyway. Getting his panicking brain under control he forced himself to think. She was smart. Maria wouldn't have let them go after Felicity without some kind of heads up. They were too close for that.

Knowing Felicity, she was already on her way to the pick up point and she would be waiting on him.

Their first stop was Grand Central and the second would be a seemingly abandoned building in the Harlem, until the initial hunt died down. And then they would make a more permanat relocation to a safe house Kay had set up for them.

::: ::: :::

Felicity collected the bags from Grand Central and rode around all over the subway and changed clothes and hats three times in various bathrooms before she took a bus to Harlem.

It was only her years of training the helped her not reveal her anxiety over being wedged between two boys who were clearly gang related by the pieces stashed in the waistband of their sweatpants. She had ten thousand in cash and a small arsenal in her backpack, and enough uncut diamonds in her handbag to have them cruising with all their friends in the Bahamas. She audibly breathed her relief when they got off several stops before she did.

Daylight faded and she paced in front of the door, waiting for him to show. It had taken her four hours to get to the temporary safehouse. Before she tossed her phone into the incinerator at the airfield, she had called Sam and Natasha to let them know they were going off grid. Sam said he would check in soon, he knew where they were headed and Natasha said she was still looking for Bruce but she would keep her head down now that she knew the Act was law. They both told her to keep safe. She wished them the same.

It was close to midnight, the noises of the neighbourhood made her nervous. The single story building was a especially designed with one-way noise and tech dampners. They could hear and see everything on the outside but no one could listen in. And they would also have no reason to. It looked like a derelict drafty building. No one would think it was a good place to shelter. It appeared to have no roof.

Every time she heard sirens in the distance, Felicity jumped and her heart would start pounding in her chest. Several times she took out the sat phone, her hand poised to dail but who would she call? She had made all the calls she needed to. And if Steve followed the plan he would have destroyed his phone the minute he was free of the Training Base, located just outside D.C. in North Virginia.

She heard footsteps at the back entrance that opened into the darkened alley behind the building. When Steve's face appeared she almost collapsed in relief. When he shut the door behind himself and dropped the shield which was hidden in a boogie board bag on the table, her feeling changed.

"I called you, texted you. You were meant to be here hours ago."

He gave her a sheepish look. "I know you're used to keeping your phone on you but I'm not. It's hard to train with it. And it's not like I would ever take it into the field. It's full of personal information and it's not unbreakable."

Felicity goggled at him, her mouth dropping open in shock. "I Lifeproof'd your phone so you could always carry it. Since you so casually broke half a dozen before that with cheap cases. I also remotely back up and clean your phone every day. If you ever got captured by the enemy, I'd want them to call me," she said throwing her hands up. "I would pin their assess down and send the Legion to blow their base off the map."

Steve gave her an incredulous look, his eyebrow hiked. He hoped she'd plan to rescue him before launching that kind of strike. Watching her fume and pace right now, he couldn't be sure that she would.

"You would never go into a hot zone without your shield, how could you forget your phone?" she shrieked, before planting her hands on her hips and fixing him with her I'll-squish-you-like-a-bug face. "Steve, I messaged you this morning to tell you they were coming. I had time to upload the virus, contact all our friends and run. I've been here for more than fourteen hours! Fourteen hours of worrying, panicking, imagining the worst..."

He had almost a foot on her, and at least a 120lb, her petite frame hardly cut an imposing image. Yet, with her blue eyes flashing, her jaw set and her entire being giving off a powerful crackle of energy, he didn't doubt that she had Asgardian blood running through her veins. She was angry, frightened and shaking and he was more than a little intimidated but he needed to hold her and he suspected that that's what she needed too. So he entered her personal space, despite his flight instincts screaming at him to keep his distance and stopped her pacing. She throttled his chest when he hugged her but only a second passed and she was sobbing into his neck.

"I'm so angry with you. I was terrified," she confessed her words muffled against his skin. Her brief outburst of tears spent, she looked up at him through her watery eyes and embraced him back. "Next time, do as I ask. Please?"

Steve felt his put together resolve crumble at the broken plea in her eyes. "I'll try." He coughed to clear away the tightening in his throat. He hated the disappointment in her expression and her voice. He never wanted to disappoint her in anything. It felt crushing. "Felicity, I just don't always understand where you're coming from and if it's not important to me, I just overlook it."

Felicity growled in exasperation and almost stomped her foot. Instead it became more of a jerk against his body as she was still firmly in his thickly muscled arms. "Steve, this is my world. You've got to remember that here, in the big cities, I'm the one with the expertise. Here you've got to trust my judgement. Just like if we were ever in a battle scenario, I would follow your lead no question. I would have your back and take your orders 100%."

Steve rubbed her back with soothing circular movements and kissed her forehead. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"I don't want your sorry," she said, dejectedly wiping the tears from her cheeks. "I'm just glad you're here." Slipping from his arms, she busied herself glancing around their Spartan set up. "Now we need to do an external sweep, check the perimeter alarms and sleep. I can feel a crash coming on. My adrenaline levels were way too high today." And with that she marched away to check the small security system the building was installed with.

Steve ran a tired hand over his neck. This was only the beginning. He'd been neck deep in enemy territory before but he'd never had this much at stake. Her safety was his everything. He only hoped they'd made the right contingencies. Kay had assured him that if something happened to him, he'd use every resource at his disposal to keep Felicity safe and if he had to, he'd send her to Asgard.

He hoped it wouldn't come to that. But he was comforted to know that if the worst were to happen, she would be safe and from her interactions with Thor, he knew he could trust the Asgardian to embrace her as one of their own.

::: ::: :::

 **Part 2: Loss**

 **Summary:**

The Resistance is growing but so is public unrest and the government has recruited registered Superhuman mercenaries to hunt down law breakers.

::: ::: :::

The underground movement was getting too big to keep a hidden much longer. Every day, new faces but familiar names found their doorstep.

Kay had a safe house in lower Manhattan that had a basement that had a special locker that opened to a non-hostile alien dimension. Once they entered the basement, they were completely cloaked from the outside world. The only downside was limited resources and growing numbers. The area the basement opened into wasn't unlimited. While the world was habitable, the locals weren't all that accommodating and felt threatened by the rapidly increasing number of residents inhabiting the once reclusive but respectful Kay's moderate-sized property.

Creating a blanket dark zone over lower Manhattan, so their people could move around to gather supplies without drawing suspicion was a headache in itself. She had to make the network and satellite drop outs intermittent and brief so as to make it look like minor system glitches.

The stream of people looking for asylum made Felicity's work of keeping the digital world off their backs a 24/7 job. It came as a relief to her when Lyla Diggle and Doctor Strange, a man with seemingly limitless magical ability, had joined their ranks. It had helped a lot in keeping them ahead of their relentless persecutors.

"Lyla, John, oh wow, look how big she's gotten. Look at you, Sara," she cooed at the infant. "How are the team doing?" Last word was that Sara had narrowly avoided being killed while investigating Malcolm for the League of Assassins. Lyla had used her contacts, a mole planted inside the League, to reveal Malcolm's location and Oliver had rescued Thea from his control. It had taken the team months to break her conditioning and her sense of loyalty to Malcolm but they'd got through it. Now only to face Lance and his renewed pursuit to rid his city of vigilantes. He blamed Sara's hospitalization and coma on the Arrow. And the new law for Superhumans only bolstered his efforts. He was going after Oliver and the team hard. Especially after it was televised how they're held their own against Deathstroke's Mirakuru Super Soldiers. Oliver had been forced to hang up the hood. While Mari and John who we're both known to A.R.G.U.S had been ordered to register. It didn't matter that John was just a man without the Green Lantern ring. Or that Mari had lived a comfortable high profile life, her powers completely under wraps. It didn't matter that she'd come to Waller on her own, wanting help to exercise control over her abilities. The law was the law and no one, in this instance, was above it. So they'd gone underground.

"You're married?" Digg asked after releasing her from a hug. He said it with a trace of hurt and Felicity ducked her head, her cheeks coloring.

"What he means to say is, congratulations and we got remarried," Lyla said, sending her husband a fierce look before smiling warmly at Felicity. "I always thought he was one of the best Felicity, despite all this, you look happy. So confident."

Felicity let her shoulders slump. Her stoic mask falling away. "It's a front. I don't feel confident. We started this, and now we need to keep it together but is this what we have now? Is this what it was all for?"

"Standing for what's right is never easy," Lyla said, gathering her in a strong comforting hug. "Why don't you show me how you've been managing and I'll do what I can to help. I've been in operations with A.R.G.U.S and Waller's right hand for years, I think I'll be able lighten the load a little."

Felicity actually started crying. The genuine show of support the older woman was expressing was her undoing. "I'm sorry you're being targeted, John. But I'm so glad you're here."

"Ditto, Felicity. Feels like old times." John quipped lightly and hoisted Sara higher in his arms so she could properly doze on his shoulder.

"Don't say that," she said snappishly. "People got shot, injured and dead far too frequently." She paused and felt a headache coming on. "Sort of like now.

John Stewart Diggle had brought hope but also a bad omen of what was to come.

::: ::: :::

It all changed the day Peggy died.

The news broadcast outside Capitol Hill, showed just how unstable the divide between sides had become.

Watching the devastation unfold, Felicity knew even before they returned from the latest hot zone that this was the moment that Steve changed his mind. He couldn't fight any longer.

A relatively peaceful but boisterous protest of ordinary Americans: pro-Act advocates versus supporters of Captain America's anti-registration, turned violent. Peter Parker, still only a teen, saw what his public registration had cost and he spoke out against it, urging others not to do the same. Rioting started and the crowds turned each other. Peter tried to step in to subdue the aggressors and the Iron Legion, along with government endorsed superhuman enforcers (Felicity likened them to implanted Suicide Squad members) had gone after him. Steve and a few of their number, along with a grudgingly accepted, Frank Castle, The Punisher, had rescued Spiderman.

The teen had been blooded and barely breathing when they got him back to base. Being gone for months and stuck behind monitors, Felicity had felt detached from the outside world. Seeing the kid's broken, battered body, his boyish face that she'd seen smiling shyly on national TV, swollen and blackened beyond recognition had made her lose her lunch. And she hadn't been capable of typing at her systems for more than an hour afterward.

Steve told her privately that it had gone on long enough. Captain America was a symbol and he stood for what was just and honourable. For a kid to stand up and speak out while he stayed in the shadows wasn't right. He would wear the uniform he once wore with pride but the country he loved had turned into a farce, and he would let the masses have their 'traitor'.

After Peggy's funeral he planned to turn himself over. But he didn't want her to. The world didn't know the truth of who Felicity Rogers nee Smoak was and he desperately wanted to keep it that way.

::: ::: :::

That night, she couldn't stop trembling. Even after Dr. Strange had assured her that while he looked a fright, Peter Parker was a fighter and his body was already healing the worst of the damage. A dose of his signature brand of mystical energy and his own super charged metabolism, they were confident Peter would make a speedy and full recovery within the week.

Checking in with the person on monitor duty, Felicity tried to get her rioting emotional responses under control by training harder than she ever had in her life. Natasha hadn't supported the Act but she had been overseas tracking Bruce when it passed and stayed out of the country. Training with Maria was out of the question and she actually felt her stomach roll again when she thought of all they had lost because of this. She hadn't seen Maria, Natasha or Pepper since the Act had become law and she missed her friends. For all his ego and bullheadedness, she actually missed Tony too.

She gave up when she found she was crying so much that she couldn't see straight and her arms couldn't actually lift the bo staff anymore. A look at the time showed that Steve should be returning from patrol soon, so she tidied the training room and went to their private quarters. Families had a private room, everyone else was bunking in an ever magically expanding communal sleeping area. Lights out meant quiet, while night owls were free to burn midnight oil in the rec room.

Lyla had cataloged everyone's skills and set them to various tasks, something Felicity had never gotten around to doing. Steve was a great leader in the field but he wasn't so great at delegating mundane tasks. Before Lyla, cooking and cleaning had fallen to a few regulars who just couldn't stand the piles of take out and dirty dishes and horrific state of the three shared-bathrooms. Over the past two weeks, for the first time in months, Felicity had sleep at least five hours in a stretch without having some alarm startling her awake. It finally allowed her to shut off her overworked brain, knowing someone else capable was handling it.

When Steve peeled off the uniform and showered, falling into bed beside her, his skin still damp, he made love to her with the most intensity she'd ever felt from him. What made it strike a cord in her soul was how mostly silent he'd been. As though any noise could break the spell of solace he'd found in her body's embrace. He kept capturing her mouth at every opportunity, only breaking when they both desperately needed air and the look in his eyes tore at her already heavy heart. He was shattered. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she offered what comfort she could and let him take all that he needed. When he let go, she actually felt the cool rush of his release leave him and fill her deeply. His attentions stunning her exhausted muscles into a mutual completion that left her gasping and her every nerve ending singing in glorious protest. She cradled him to her heart for a change. Usually he was too conscious of his bulk to rest on her. His breathing signaled sleep and when she felt his tense muscles relax, she slipped out from under him to attended to the cuts and bruises he'd ignored, in his stubbornness to see to others safety first and then had neglected in his exhaustion.

With tender care, she rubbed each red and blue mark with salve and dressed each graze and cut with antiseptic ointment. They'd be closed by the morning, but she didn't want them to give his body any reason to fight off infection. He stressed his system enough. There wasn't a day that went by when she didn't fear that the serum and his skill wouldn't be enough to keep him safe. Putting her first aid kit away, she kissed his sleeping face and tugged the covers over them both, praying silently that they would all see a new day.

::: ::: :::

"My aunt was always a bold, strong and tenacious woman. She was the only one of her friends to join The British Armed Forces as an officer and not a nurse.

"During the the war she met a man whom would not only claim her heart but shape her future.

"He said if a blind and deaf woman could finish college and write books then a weak but able bodied man should be allowed to fight for his country.

"That man was Captain Rogers. After the war, she could have returned to England a decorated war hero. Instead she chose the country that had shown her the world. It wasn't easy being the first woman to work for the S.S.R but like Helen Keller, Margaret Carter, Peggy to her friends and later Peggy Sousa, chose to face the challenges others would place on her for her gender and met those obstacles with dignity and strength. And her legacy stands today. As a founding member of S.H.I.E.L.D, she will be remembered for all time as the woman who helped form an ideal into a reality. The organisation will endure and remain a steadfast guardian against the darkness. Rest in peace, Aunty. Until we meet again in the New World."

Felicity darted a glance at Steve during the service and could feel both his surprise and his emotion at Peggy's niece's impassioned eulogy. He wasn't alone. According to what Steve had told her, Peggy had no remaining relatives. She was an only child and Daniel, her husband, had proceeded her in death fifteen years ago. They had no children.

At the burial site, she squeezed his hand and urged him to talk to the woman. She knew he was curious and she wasn't about to hold him back. So far the black fedora was working for them. And the illusion Dr. Strange had placed on them meant no one paid them any attention.

As she stood alone, Bucky came to talk to her. She had spotted him the moment he entered the cemetery and stood on the fringes of the gathering. No doubt Steve had too, from the welcoming nod he'd sent his way. "Should I be worried that you recognized us?"

"I'd know Steve in a fat suit and a domino mask. He's still got that poor kid from Brooklyn twitch, always checking around for thugs," Bucky quipped, his lips twitched as he reminisced dusting Steve off and saving him from many a skirmish, before he sobered quickly. "How do you say, 'sorry I tried to kill you and thought I had'," he said his voice gruff.

"Just like that," she said simply. Without drawing attention to them she took his arm discreetly, not flinching in the slightest at the coldness of his metal prosthetic she could feel seeping through the wool of his coat. "You clean up well." His hair was cut shorter, like it had been in the days Steve had known him. His face was a healthier pallor and his eyes weren't bloodshot. He must have given up drinking so hard then. He a was ruggedly handsome type with a bad boy edge to Steve's classic wholesome good-looks.

"Forgive me?" he begged, his voice soft.

Felicity turned to read his eyes then and took his gloved hand. The honest regret and doubt she read on his face, gave her hope for him. "I forgive you. You have no idea how glad I am that it turns out I'm pretty tough to kill."

A real smile tugged at Bucky's lips. "You really are a rare, dame, Ms. Smoak."

"It's Mrs. Rogers, actually."

Bucky brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. "Congratulations to you both."

He released her hand and Felicity knew he was about to leave. "He'd love to talk to you, you know."

Bucky nodded his eyes suspiciously bright, his throat working. "Soon. Not yet."

Felicity dipped her head in understanding and let him go.

::: ::: :::

"Agent 13, or can I call you Sharon Carter? I didn't know Peggy had family still around. I never saw anyone visit," he said as he extended his hand, which she took. She had a strong grip and her eyes weren't in the least apologetic.

"It's just Sharon today. Aunt Peggy didn't remember much of anything in the end and my file was sealed so I could actively serve without familial history coloring my record. It helped keep my cover with you. Brazen of you coming here. Or is this your plan to surrender?"

"Did you volunteer?" he asked, ignoring her question for now. The magic only worked on his appearance, it didn't disguise his voice and when she'd posed as his neighbor they'd run into each other enough to make an acquaintance. She obviously recognized him.

"Fury wanted someone he could trust. According to my aunt, there was no one else she would have trusted to protect you."

"I'm sorry for your loss," he said sincerely.

Sharon gave him a nod. "Thank you, Captain Rogers."

He shook his head. "It's just Steve. Call me Steve," he said hurriedly, looking about to see if anyone had noticed their exchange. This was for Peggy. He didn't want to draw attention. He had almost hesitated in coming for that reason. Only Dr. Strange offering his talents had decided the matter to attend. The plan was public surrender but not here. The protest images were all of him in his uniform, his helmet on. Most people didn't recognize him on the street. Especially if he was in plain clothes but nearly everyone caught on when you mentioned his service name.

"Farewell, Steve Rogers. Hail Hydra," she said in a monotone voice.

His gaze whipped back to her and his eyes widened when he saw the glock leveled at his chest. Three rounds exited the chamber in rapid succession and he felt the world drift by in slow motion as he dropped to his knees.

She still had the gun in her hand and just as she inched forward to press the barrel to his head, Bucky tackled her away.

The gunshots caused a frenzy. People tripped over chairs and each other in their haste to flee. He felt arms go around him and saw Felicity's face fill his vision.

He gurgled as he felt her press down on his chest. It was no use. This was it. His time. He held her hand for a moment before he moved his up her arm to brush away the tears coursing down her cheeks.

"S'okay," he whispered and then coughed.

A fine spray coated her neck and her white blouse underneath her black overcoat.

"Don't talk, just hang in there for me okay? Help is coming." She knew from Tony's grim expression and the phone pressed to his ear that he had emergency services on the line. Sharon announcing his name and shooting him point blank had drawn Tony's attention. He'd been standing across the plot, paying his respects to the woman who had been a close friend to both his father and Mr. Jarvis for many years.

Whatever differences of opinion and standing on opposite sides of the political fence, they would always care for one another. Felicity believed that they were friends first.

Felicity was furious at how far out of control he'd let things spiral. Tony was cosing up with the likes of General Ross, who was single handedly responsible for multiple civilian disasters in his pursuit of Bruce and his narrow minded bigotry had created the Abomination.

Felicity couldn't be sure that the Iron Legions pursuit of Peter had been Tony's call but if Steve wasn't bleeding out on the floor she'd be ripping Tony a new one right now.

Steve knew how to push Tony's buttons, but there was no one Tony admired and respected more than Steve.

Felicity looked at him pleadingly when she felt Steve's breathing slow. "Tony, press down."

Tony's hands replaced hers and she felt her heart twist in her chest when Steve's hand fell away from her face. Her hands shook so uncontrollably that she almost dropped her phone. She couldn't punch any of the numbers, so she used her voice dial instead.

"Call Kay."

"Connecting Kay."

Even though it hand been weeks of radio silence between them, he answered on the second ring. "What is it, honey? In the middle of something here. Is it urgent or can I call you back?" He was puffing and his voice was stained.

"I need an MiB medical assist now!."

"Are you hurt? Where are you?" He asked his voice betraying his concern.

"It's Steve and I'm at the White Gate Cemetery on the hill."

Kay paused and let out a labored breath. He'd obviously given up his pursuit of whatever it was he'd been chasing. "He's not our jurisdiction, baby but I'm coming to you. Sit tight. I'll send J to the Agency and tell them I've got a situation."

"No," she growled into the phone. "He's dying, Kay. They're the only ones that can save him. I'm evoking spousal privilege to right of care. He's my husband. They will save him."

"He's human, Felicity. Even with our technology, the best we can do is put him in suspended animation till his body can self repair. If that's even possible. If the damage is too extensive..."

"Felicity," Tony's voice interjected, strained and despondent. "He's gone."

"No," she said firmly, she met his eyes, hers flashing with determination. She flexed her hand and extended her arm. "He doesn't die here."

::: ::: :::

Thor trudged through the glen that covered the entrance to the cave that led to the deep underground.

This father had charged him with keeping the Tesseract safe and hidden after he'd brought Loki home. Now, he and his friends needed it to find a way back to Midgard to gather allies to stop Loki.

His brother had duped him into believing that he had said farewell to the All Father, leaving Asgard in safe hands. Instead, it had been Loki. Heimdell and his friends had been banished for their presumed treachery to Asgard's king and Asgard was now under threat because of Loki's failed dealings with the Chitauris' Master, Thanos.

He had found Sif and Hogun on Hogun's homeworld. And Volstagg had been abandoned on Jötunheimr Loki must have thought it poetic justice since hardly anything grew on the land. Fandral he'd banished to Helhiem, knowing that the man's womanising ways would catch up to him there. Hel, it's Queen, was an especially twisted mistress. And Loki had an especially cruel fate for Heimdall. The former gatekeeper sentenced to infinite isolation, on Niflheim, in a prison designed to negate the gift of far-sight that Odin had blessed him with. For a man who could once see everything it was maddening. After rescuing the Asgardian watchman, Heimdall swore to Thor that he would see Loki undone for his treachery. He would find a way into Asgard and he would open the Bifrost for their return.

Thor, Sif and the reunited Warriors Three located the hidden Tesseract and using a Dwarf forged key chamber, Thor urged them all to hold on as he activated the portal key, harnessing The Cube's energy.

The moment they arrived on Midgard, Mjolnir began to hum and pull from Thor's hand. Once free it arched into the sky in a cloud burst of magical acceleration.

"It's never done that before," Fandral needlessly pointed out.

Thor frowned before turning a grave look to his friends. His eyes met with the bearded, bewildered blond's. "You daughter calls for aid. We must make haste. Hold," he said, thrusting the key back at them.

They did as they were commanded by their rightful king. Fandral looking anxious, a rare expression for the man. Thor let a grin slip at the thought of Felicity and her father's first meeting. He wondered what they'd make of each other.

::: ::: :::

The Hammer crackled through the air and the moment it touched her palm she felt energy course through her body. She put one palm on Steve's chest and let the energy pour through her to his heart.

Felicity felt warmth and a ripple sensation over her skin but nothing entered her thoughts but Steve's face, his pale skin and bloodied lips. "Come back to me," she cried softly.

He jerked on the ground and a gasp of air dragged past his parted lips. He coughed again, blood dribbling out of his mouth. He blinked up at her blearily before his eyes rolled back in his head. Under her hand she could feel his chest rising and falling, it was so slight, it was barely moving. At least this time she was certain he'd only passed out. She could hear the sirens in the distance but a black van screeched to a stop, reaching them first.

"Make a hole, people," the no-nonsense voice of Kay, barked. "We'll look at you, Lady," he said gruffly taking in her appearance. He nodded and gestured to his men. They immediately went to collect Steve. "You need to get moving, honey. You know how this works." As he took out his glasses, Felicity hurried after Steve. "Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd all kindly pay attention."

There was a loud pulsing noise like a flashbulb and she could hear him talking again.

"Steve Rogers was shot while peacefully attending the funeral of a life-long friend. You can rest assured that we are detaining Ms Carter for questioning. Should Mr. Rogers make a full recovery, he will face trial for his criminal activity against the Superhuman Registration Act. Good day people."

Kay joined her in the back off the van and he signaled the driver to move. "Quite a show you put on there."

"I'd applaud your own performance but I still don't know whether to cry tears of relief that you came or to yell at you for fostering their war mongering idiocy."

Kay ran his hands over the legs of his black trousers, his tiredness showing as his eyes met hers. He had done all he could to help them without incriminating himself. While MiB operated independently of the government, it was still sensitive to the current laws of state. If his boss knew just how uninvolved he'd been in the Civil War going on, he'd end up Neuralized back to infancy.

"I'll always be here for you, Felicity. I'm just one of the lucky ones that also gets to say my family is my job."

Felicity cringed at his attempt at levity. Kay was pants at jokes. Dry wit he had passable talent. His jokes hurt. They were physically painful.

"How do you know he was tachycardic and not dead?"

"I didn't but he's a fighter and I wasn't about to quit on him," Felicity said, setting the Hammer down on the floor of the van so that she could hold Steve's cool hand between hers.

"I thought Thor soundly refuted the possibility of a liaison with your mother. He wouldn't let me stay for the blood test." Kay gave her attire a pointed appraisal.

Felicity shifted, not completely at ease in her magical Asgardian armor, topped with a sweeping green cloak. It wasn't restrictive so much as Renaissance fancy dress. She split a small grin in spite of her worry. "He said it was most likely Fandral. He's the serial rogue bachelor. And there's the blonde hair, blue eyes..."

"Well, makes sense. Doesn't explain that though," he said with a pointed look toward to Thor's Hammer.

"It's a story for another time. But you don't have to be blood to be able to call Mjolnir," she explained.

The wireless electrodes they'd put on Steve's chest showed his heartbeat was weak and thready but his blood pressure was holding. The alien surgical tools they were using to extract the bullets was eerie to watch but she didn't take her eyes from any of it. She continued to hold his hand and stroked the back of his fingers, willing him to fight. To fight to live for the both of them.

::: ::: :::

The sight of a bunch of Asgardians appearing in the middle of Time Square in broad daylight made more even more headlines than Captain America's shooting. Seems aliens trumped an attack on a fugitive ex-patriot.

MiB were all over it along with S.H.I.E.L.D and the two were currently in a whose stick is bigger contest. Thor had, had enough.

"We search for Felicity Smoak? Agent K, you will disclose her whereabouts."

Kay tried but couldn't resist the urge to roll his eyes. "Lose something did you, Asgardian?"

Thor loomed over him. "Don't try my patience, mortal."

"Tell these jackboots to stand down and I'll arrange a meeting," Kay said coolly. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Fandral brandishing his sword while raising a questioning eyebrow at a female S.H.E.I.L.D agent. Seeing the man in the flesh, Kay could see the familial resemblance in their facial structure, especially that lip tilt. It was Felicity in scheming mode. He knew that lip twitch well. It usually resulted in Donna getting exasperated and something getting pulled apart with no hope of it ever returning to its original function. This man, who couldn't decide if he was facing off an enemy or about to get his charm on, was Felicity's father? Kay felt a muscle in his back twinge. He was too old for this crap.

"If I find out you've been aiding the Resistance terrorists, Kay..."

"Director Hill, you don't want to try me today. You should be more concerned with how HYDRA got their hands on one of your agents and just how many of them you still have in your ranks. Clean house before you try going after people who've been doing their job before you were a twinkle in your Daddy's eye." He liked Maria Hill once. He stopped around the time she'd sent a force of trigger happy yahoos after his Felicity.

Thor told his friends to stand down and at Kay's nod they entered the waiting black vans.

Behind blocked out windows, the vehicle occupants never noticed the giant Neuralyzer hidden in the obelisk flash everyone in the area.

::: ::: :::

"Thor," Felicity said rushing him and all but throwing the Hammer at his chest.

He caught her and it with a discomforted omph.

"I'm sorry." She released him from her missile hug and gave him a very contrite face. "I wouldn't have... I shouldn't have... I'm just glad it worked," she decided to say with sad relief.

Thor took in her Asgardian garb with approval but frowned at her bloodied hands. "Are you injured?"

Felicity felt tears prickling at the back of her eyes and glanced at her hands. She'd forgotten they were even stained with Steve's blood. She hadn't left the viewing window since they'd arrived, only moving once she'd seen Thor's approaching reflection in the glass. "It's not my blood. It's Steve's. He was shot," her voice broke with a sob.

Thor's face fell and he saw Sif move to place a comforting hand on Felicity's shoulder. Felicity gave the woman a grateful, watery smile. It was only then that he noticed what was happening behind the glass wall. Steve was in a healing chamber not all that dissimilar to those on Asgard. He understood only a little of the healing arts but he knew many of the realms languages and it look like an ancient form of Aesir. Steve Rogers was in very bad shape.

Two of the people working by the chamber shared an unseen look and seconds later a pulsing light had everyone frantic.

Felicity saw the commotion and tried to go in, only to find herself locked out. "Kay!"

Kay punched in his code, and tried again when he was repeatedly denied. "It's a clean room, if there's an emergency they'll lock it down. It'll take a minute for me to override."

"I don't care, do it."

Kay tried furiously to get the door to disengage but the computer stubbornly refused.

Felicity whirled, rather than take Thor's Hammer which she very much suspected he assumed she would do from the apprehensive and anxious expression on his face, she tore the sword from her bewildered father's scabbard and hacked off the offending panel in one sweep. She then thrust her armored foot against the door, shattering it.

The medical staff gave her a wide-birth and she stood by Steve's head. They had removed all the bullet fragments and stitched him up. It was all up to him now. She pressed her cheek against his, trusting Kay and Thor to have her back while she focused all her attention on Steve. "Please don't go. Stay. Fight for me. We promised," she whispered urgently in his ear. "In all the realms, nothing could keep us apart. Fight for me, Steve."

The machine continued to pulse a warning. Until it stopped.

"He's gone. The indicator means there is no life detected."

Felicity froze, her face pressed into Steve's bare shoulder. They had stripped him to the waist. He was still in his bloodstained suit pants. She felt Kay's hand on her back. "Baby, we have to move him. They will need the room."

Felicity ignored him and grit her teeth. Nothing mattered anymore. Her heart had died in this room. Truthfully they had been killing them both long before this. Steve had given his life for his country once already. It wasn't enough. It was never enough. They'd taken it again.

O, Kay's supervisor appeared in the doorway. "I have the White House breathing down my neck about our harboring a wanted fugitive."

Felicity glanced up, her eyes bloodshot and red-rimmed. "Tell your records office, Captain America, Real Name: Steve Rogers, is dead. Shot by S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Sharon Carter, Agent 13. My name is Felicity Megan Rogers, I will go by Valkyrie. Category: Asgardian. You can give them that for their Superhuman Registration Act," she spat with raging venom. "And you can guarantee that there will be a reckoning this day. For no more will fall in the name of justice. I will end this witch hunt once and for all, even if I have to hit reset on every government budget in existence. Starting with S.H.I.E.L.D."

Fandral looked at the woman who Thor claimed was his daughter and felt a shudder go through him. If he didn't know any better he could swear in her fury and steely conviction he was seeing Brünhild stare down Odin All-Father. He was both awed and afraid. She certainly cast a striking likeness of her chosen namesake.

::: ::: :::

 **Part 3: Perspective**

 **Summary:**

Felicity's anger fades to disappointment when she discovers that there are other concerns in play than vengeance.

::: ::: :::

Sharon Carter sat in a holding room, handcuffed to a desk. She had no idea what had just happened. She remembered being at the cemetery burying her beloved great aunt. Her great grandfather and Peggy's father were brothers. They were distant relations but she'd always looked up to Peggy, had wanted to be like her heroic aunt. How could she have done what they were saying she'd done? How could she have killed Captain America? Even the thought of it turned her stomach. Her hands shook and the handcuffs rattled against the metal rod on top of the desk.

The door opened and a familiar sight of flame red hair crossed into her peripheral vision and her heart started to pound harder. Agent Romanoff's reputation preceded her and if she was conducting this investigation it was sure to be thorough, but brutal on her mental state.

"Agent 13," she said cordially, her face betraying nothing of her feelings regarding the events that led them to this point.

"Agent Romanoff," Sharon acknowledged with a nod.

"Why are you here?" Natasha asked, slouching back in her chair.

There were no folders on the desk between them, no photos or show of evidence. If it weren't for the handcuffs, Sharon could be fooled into thinking they were just waiting for a mission debrief. She half expected Natasha to put her feet up on the table, she looked largely disinterested at the situation, not at all how an interrogator should look.

Sharon sat up a little straighter. Last reports said that Agent Romanoff had requested a leave of absence, and after a mandatory recall went unanswered she was listed as MIA. Charges pending, if it turned out that she'd been aiding the Captain America's Resistance efforts. Perhaps the Black Widow wasn't running this investigation at all. Maybe she was under investigation as well.

"They're saying I killed Captain Rogers."

"Eye witness reports and GSR tests say you did," Natasha deadpanned and leaned across the table. She stared into Sharon's face and saw undisclosed shock and fear in her eyes. It was a genuine response. She honestly believed she was innocent.

At her subtle nod to the privacy glass, the blank wall behind them played out satellite footage of Agent Carter pointing a gun at man wearing a long black coat and a fedora. Another camera angle followed, the image stamp in the corner revealed it must have come from Tony, it said Stark Industries. This angle clearly showed showed her with a glock pressed against the same man's forehead, a huge blood stain already spread across his previously white shirt. There was no mistaking his face. It was Steve Rogers.

Sharon stared incomprehensibly at the footage. She couldn't even remember seeing him at the service, although something nagged at her brain. He must have been there. She had heard his voice. A small part of her brain was certain of it. As much as she'd admired Peggy, she confessed if only ever to herself that she had a serious crush on Steve Rogers. He was America's biggest hero. Her aunt's lost, first great love. She had grown up hearing the real stories of Captain America and the 107th Regiment, popularly known as the Howling Commandos. Was it any wonder why she'd chosen to follow in her aunt's footsteps? This wasn't real. It couldn't be. Even though they'd branded him a traitor to his country, there was no way on earth she would ever shoot Steve Rogers.

"I didn't do this," she said vehemently, shaking her head to dispel the ghastly image of her detached expression as she pointed a gun at the man she admired more than anyone else.

"What do you think?" Natasha asked the vacant space beside her.

"Part of her mind has been blocked. Layered conditioning. Probably deeply traumatic. I have sensed these methods before," a calm, baritone voice said.

A caped, pinkish man shimmered into view. "We do not dispute that given the choice, you would not have taken the life of Captain Rogers, Ms Carter. However to find those responsible, we must delve deeper into the past. I surmise that it will not be pleasant."

Sharon's mouth hung open and she merely stared at the alien being. She'd read a file on the entity Ultron tried to create, and Tony and Thor jointly resurrected. Reading and seeing were very different things.

::: ::: :::

Felicity watched every facial tick, listened to every word and watched every shift and twitch Sharon Carter made. Anger burned through her like fire and she prayed for calm and the strength to reserve judgement. Pain lanced her heart when she believed what Sharon's body language and her words were telling them. That she was innocent. Despite being the one who pulled the trigger, there was someone else pulling the strings. She had absolute confidence that the Vision and Natasha would get answers. Right now she had another place to be. The powers they'd appointed and the public needed to be addressed for their part in Steve's death.

::: ::: :::

"I realize that most of you came here looking for information on Captain America's condition. A large part of me wants to deny you anything. You lost the right to know him at all when you started hunting us. Well you can stop now. Steve Rogers didn't survive his wounds." Anger burned in her vines like acid at their bated stares. They were hanging on her every word. There was no mourning in their faces, no trace of sadness or compassion for her loss. The wood of the lectern cracked under her unyielding grip. At least it was holding under her stress so she had an avenue to channel her rage over their apathy. "No one seems to remember the hero who sacrificed his life to stop a Hydra warship from crashing into New York decades ago. No one remembers how he stood in the streets three years ago and fought off wave after wave of Chitarui invaders and used only his body and his shield to save an entire building full of people from being blown apart by an alien device. This day marks the moment where an honest, unselfish man gave his life protecting the liberty of others for a second time. Steve Rogers was loyal to a fault. He submitted to a procedure he had no hope of understanding to its full extent and he lived the rest of his life indebted, idolized and pigeonholed for it. They created a super soldier and he let them use him in that way, so long as it never compromised his firm convictions. Our Constitution is built on the belief that every man, woman and child has the right life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our government would have us believe that this only applies to those born without any kind of ability not considered normal. The Declaration of Independence was written centuries ago long before we came one of the biggest nations in the world, ever progressive, technologically advanced society. We now know there are other worlds out there. That there are beings with technology and powers beyond our comprehension. Rather than remember that, we let fear dictate our actions and turned on each other.

"I lost my best friend and my husband today. In that moment I wanted nothing more than for the world to burn to ashes for what it's taken from me. But the longer I held him, I remembered the man he was," Felicity watched as a flurry of whispers broke out. The extent of their relationship had always been speculated on by those that religiously followed Cap's every move but it had never been confirmed. "The love he had for others. His seemingly limitless patience and his unique outlook on the world. He was a man out of time, thrust into a completely alien world but he adapted. Took it in stride which had become a trademark for him. Nothing could bring Captain America down. Yet his country did. In the end, we failed him.

"In my heart, I can feel him urging me. Begging me not to stop believing. That we should be reminded of what our forefathers' built our nation on. We have a higher calling. A duty of care to our brothers and sisters. All men and women are created equal under God. Equal in the responsibility to treat each other with dignity, respect and compassion. With our world only being a very small part of a much greater, infinite universe we should be banding together, not fighting each other. The assault on New York, the Destroyer in New Mexico, The Convergence event over London, the god-like figures standing behind me, should be proof enough for you that we are not alone in the universe.

"I was born in San Francisco, at the University hospital. My mother is a cocktail waitress and can trace her Jewish ancestors back centuries. But my biological father is Asgardian, one of the great Warriors Three of Norse Legend. Among the first of Earth's champions and protectors. As long as the Superhuman Registration Act stands, so will I against it. I will offer my protection, my skills and my resources to any non-combatant that has need of shelter. No one should be forced to live in fear of segregation, enslavement or persecution for being born different. My name is Valkyrie and I will clear this battle-ground of the innocent. For in death all will find equal reckoning in final judgement."

The din that followed her closing statement was deafening. Protesters who were vocally supportive of the law and had been some what subdued since the shooting, pressed forward, angry and belligerent over her continued defiance. Someone threw a picket board at her and it bounced off John's quickly erected shield.

"Traitor's whore," another bellowed.

"Who dares, besmirch my daughter's honor!" Fandral roared. "I challenge you, cowardly, uncultured, swine. Show yourself," he brandished his sword and scanned the throng, who suddenly gave them a wide-birth.

Thor put a restraining hand on his friend's arm. "We are above the petty-mindedness of fools. His death would be swift and only inflame others to despise and fear us. Your daughter spoke boldly and truthfully. Let that sink into their shallow minds. There has been enough blood spilled this day."

Tensions ran high all around as the convoy left Capitol Hill and drove them all back to MiB HQ. On her feet most of the day, and her physical and emotional state completely wrung out, Felicity was anxious to see Steve. Agent J, Kay's trusted partner was seeing to Steve's blood being taken and sent to the DoD, and then he was to keep his body under guard until Felicity could witness his cremation. The second they arrived, Felicity knew from J's expression that something was wrong.

"Kay, Felicity, I'm sorry. I was there the whole time. Well, O needed me for just a second and when I came back, he was gone."

"Gone?" Felicity felt her heart drop to her stomach. She gripped Kay's arm. "Gone how? How can he just vanish? Have you reviewed security? Someone damn well knows something!" The room started to spin and she felt her chest grow tight. It was hard to breathe.

Sif caught her around the shoulders to steady her and John watched at her in concern. "Felicity, breathe. Look at me, breathe," John told her.

All she could think about was what Steve had asked her. To carry out his last wishes. To protect him in death. To not allow people to use him. To grant him, one final wish to rest in peace. He was gone. No one knew who had taken his body. The room didn't stop spinning and she collapsed.

The small room was thoroughly crowded when Felicity came to. Her mother was there and so was everyone else. Kay, Oliver, Thor and his friends and John.

"All right people, let's clear out and give her some room," Kay patted her hand. "We will find him, baby. I won't stop until we do." He hustled everyone out, but Felicity could see their anxious expressions and they continued to lurk in the corridor. Part of her was relieved that they didn't see in any rush to leave.

"Oh honey," Donna said embracing her with tears in her eyes. "I don't watch the news. Especially these days when it's nothing but propaganda and lies. But it was impossible to miss what happened. My sweetheart," Donna whispered brokenly and bit down on her finger when her tears spilled down her cheeks unchecked. "Did you know?"

Felicity looked at the pity and grief on her mother's face. "Did I know what?"

"You're about six weeks pregnant," she said softly. "This probably wasn't the best time for it to happen but oh baby, just know I'm here for you. Whatever you need."

Felicity felt the blood drain from her face and her stomach twist in knots. Pregnant. They always used protection. Being branded as fugitives it was hardly the right lifestyle to raise a child. But immediately her analytical mind ticked over and brought her back to the night Steve had been overwrought and she had been bone tired until his touch had stirred her. The day they heard about Peggy's passing, the night they had rescued Peter. She remembered now that she hadn't been wearing the diaphragm and he hadn't used a condom. A quick count in her head told her that it was only a day or two from ovulation in her cycle. If they were both fertile, pregnancy was pretty much a sure thing. It had only taken once, or one night of repeats, she shuddered to imagine it, but that was all it had taken for her mother to conceive her.

Felicity felt her heart burst in her chest and she buried her face in her hands. She was having Steve's baby. The knowledge was overwhelming. Some many feelings and thoughts clambered at her at once. Nothing could happen to this child. No one could find out she was pregnant and she had to find Steve's body. She wouldn't let them turn him into an experiment. He'd been used his entire adult life, he would be free in death. Her priorities shifted in an instant. She couldn't be the Avenger she had hoped to be, leading the charge in Steve's name. Someone else would have to stand for Steve's principles. She couldn't be in the spotlight. It was too risky. Fear rendered her silent. A tiny fragile life grew inside her. She was going to be a parent. Lifting her head she stared at her mother. "What do I do?"

Donna brushed her daughter's loose hair clear from her face and gently touched her tear-stained cheek. "One day at a time. Plan for stability and never turn away help. You're my daughter, strong, brilliant and successful. Your heart has always been my biggest pride, Felicity. The way you take risks for those you love, I've always admired your bravery."

"Mom, what are you talking about? You're the bravest person I know. You raised me, practically on your own. You worked late nights in the worst part of Vegas and you're calling me brave?"

"I couldn't do what you did, Felicity. The world against you and you stood your ground. You stood by Steve. You father didn't leave us. I left him. He said something he did in the past, that there was someone was after him. He thought changing his name, his appearance, moving to another country... It wasn't enough. He was warned they were coming and he needed to run. He want us to come with him. But I was scared. I was afraid I didn't know him at all. He never told me about that part of his past. He wasn't always a good man. So I told him to go."

Felicity was shocked. "I always thought he left because he didn't want to be with us."

"I know and I tried to preserve his memory as best I could. I never let you talk ill of him around me. To us, he was always a good man, and in my eyes he is your father. He was the only father you knew and he loved us both. I don't doubt that. It was my fault. I wasn't brave enough to believe in it then. But I know it now. It's why I never found anyone else. I still love him but I didn't stand by him. And I failed you in that, Felicity. All the struggles we had on our own was my choice. It could have been different but I was too afraid."

Felicity's mind reeled with information overload. Everything felt upside down and wrong. Her body was protesting all the different hormones her brain was pumping out. She felt like someone had worked over every part of her body. Her muscles shook with the aftermath of adrenaline.

"Baby, what do you need? Talk to me?" Donna cried brokenly, watching her daughter tremble uncontrollably.

"I... I need Maria," Felicity choked bitterly, she felt her bottom lip jut out and she screamed out her tumultuous emotions as the reality of a life without Steve hit her anew. She couldn't talk to her best friend about any of this because they hadn't even seen each other in months. And she'd more than likely have to send her to the Negative Zone if they did come face to face. There was also no way in the known universe Kay would allow anyone from S.H.I.E.L.D into the Agency. Then she remembered that Natasha was back. A twinge in her chest and a gentle nudge in the back of her mind said that maybe this would be too raw for Natasha. But if Natasha was back. Maybe she had found Bruce.

::: ::: :::

He stood uneasily just inside her room with the door open. "Felicity, you don't want me here. This place makes him- me, nervous. All those creatures walking around, the futuristic, enormous, scary looking guns, the mind whammy machines…"

Months away and aside from a few extra grays through the rich brown of his unkempt locks, he looked exactly like he always had. The meek, unassuming geek. At least Natasha seemed to have convinced him that tweed was definitely out. He wore a navy pullover and a white t-shirt paired with khaki pants. The only real sign of his inner nerd was in his fingers. You could tell his fingers itched to be busy, either turning knobs, typing at a keyboard or scribbling away calculations and theories. Her heart ached at the memories of happier times that seeing him brought. He did remind her of Benjamin Smoak. It was in his seemingly boundless enthusiasm for all things science and also in his aura. They both had made her feel safe, accepted, loved. However briefly Ben had been a part of her life, she didn't doubt that his love and pride in her. She had years worth of fond memories. Acid burned in her throat and her first curled in the sheets. Their child would never know Steve's laugh, his smile or feel his love. She pleaded for strength from Bruce with her eyes. Wished and prayed that he could take away some of the hurt she was drowning in. Hoping that somehow he would know what she needed to hear. That he would be able to help her through this feeling of helplessness.

"Did Kay tell you?" she asked weakly, interrupting his nervous rambling. His eyes still darted about twitchy about the perceived danger in this place. Honestly, she couldn't fault him in that. There were very few people she trusted in the world, and right now it was only having most of them within a hundred feet of her that was keeping her from running from here as fast as her legs would carry her.

"I'm sorry about Cap. He was the best of us and you can't believe how sorry I am that I haven't been here. For you, for the team."

Felicity snorted bitterly. "What team? There really hasn't been a team since Ultron." She watched him wince and immediately regretted her tone and her jibe. "I'm being a bitch. Can I blame Tony at least? I love him but I so want to hurt him right now..."

Bruce twitched a smile at her frustration and let out a long breath. He started to shift closer, unsure of what to do with his hands. He clenched and relaxed his fists and rocked on his heels. Finally he met her gaze and it cut him deep to see how haunted she looked. "I can't promise I won't have to leave at some point, but I can promise you that if you ever need me, I'll be there," he said his voice thick and earnest. He hesitantly approached her then and she immediately latched onto his hand.

He took a seat on the edge of the bed next to her hip and she started to sing his lullaby. Bruce closed his eyes and tightened his fingers around her grip of his hand. When she was done, her voice wavered on the last note and he looked to find tears in her eyes.

"Feel better?" she asked with hope in her voice. Her thought had been for him but the controlled breathing and focus had calmed her. "I'm glad you're beginning to accept who you are."

Bruce flashed her a small smile. "Tasha's working on me. Sometimes through her eyes, I can actually see the person she sees in the Hulk."

"There's no Hulk without Bruce Banner and there's no Bruce Banner without the Hulk. And in a few months time, I'll be getting plenty of practice with that lullaby."

Bruce's eyes widened and he squeezed her hand. "You're… you're pregnant," he said in gentle wonder. "Liss, that's amazing."

Felicity returned his grip and offered him a watery smile. "It is, isn't it."

::: ::: :::

 **In a darkened basement, miles away**

Agent Morse set down her brief case and looked over the assembled men and women. "We've worked for months studying their behavior and interactions. We came too late to study the Avengers, but the government's new legislation allowed us to infiltrate every state's new defensive teams. Captain America's Resistance was not anticipated and it put our first plans for a rallying figure in jeopardy. That plan has now come to unexpected fruition. We have been given a wonderful blessing. Two of our number, undercover with Terra's branch of galactic defense over the past year have captured Captain America."

"Won't the missing scientists raise suspicion. They'll come looking for us," one of the more imposing figures questioned.

Morse gave him an indulgent look and paused before answering, a smirk pulling at her lips as she spoke. "We want them to look. We left only enough evidence to point to possible Hydra connections. Their use of that S.H.I.E.L.D agent to attempt to assassinate Rogers will only lend credibility their discovery. And we want them to search for him." She nodded to the shadows, and a figure wearing a replica of Captain America's suit appeared. His face was not human, until he shifted into form. The smile that was on his face was one that had never graced the real Steve Roger's face.

"As the prophecy says. This planet will be ours. I am ready to serve," he said taking a knee and bowing before the high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D agent, code named Mockingbird. "My Queen."

After her loyal subjects disbursed, she nodded to the man that had lingered at her wordless request. "You never show me your face anymore," she said with a seductive pout. "I'll admit that his face is very distinguished for a human but I miss you, my General."

The man with aged yet strong looking hands took her green ones from his shoulders. "We must never break. Never assume we are safe. Our vigilance has kept us undetected thus far. It was only the mind wipe of the Fantastic Four that allowed the power and the threat of our kind to go overlooked by MiB. It is my duty to protect you. I implore you, heed my warning, My Queen," he said his voice barely above a whisper. "Never assume they are not watching."

Humbled and chastened, she bowed in gratitude for his wisdom. "May blessings go with you, Har-nak."

The man turned with his head bowed but his black Ray-Bans catching the fluorescent lights as he left. "Thank you, Agent Morse."


	15. Infiltration

**Summary:** Felicity and everyone else try to continue on, without Steve. In some minds he's easily replaced. For Felicity, that will never be the case.

::: ::: :::

"The Avengers Initiative works. Our dynamic is what made us successful. Each member brings a unique skill set to the table. All those DoD suits want is protection for the people. Every day more super villains are crawling out of the woodwork."

"And I wonder why that is?"

Felicity felt her sarcasm and flinched at the hard edge of her voice. She never thought she'd use pregnancy as an excuse for anything but damn it, her hormones put a monkey wrench in her mental happy place. She was extra crabby in the mornings because of the severe unrelenting nausea and there was no Steve. The times she felt his absence the most where at the worst times, alone in their bed late at night when there was no chance of talking to anyone about how much she missed him. When she had to do her own cooking for the first time in more than a year. Steve enjoyed cooking and spoiling her. He had spoiled her all right, it took her ten minutes how to figure out how to light the damn burner she was that out of practice. She couldn't even fry eggs without burning them now. Although that might be due to her heightened sense of smell triggering her hypersensitive gag reflex. Fuel exhaust fumes, raw meat, eggs and would you even believe it, yogurt, set her off. Bruce, being sweet and thoughtful had made her a breakfast smoothie of berries, banana and yogurt this morning. She'd taken one whiff and had to make a mad dash for the bathroom. Kneeling on the floor, her arms bracing the toilet seat, she stayed there even after her stomach was empty. After washing her face and brushing her teeth for the third time that morning, she didn't leave for an hour, mortified at her reaction and the awful pain tearing through her chest. She felt like she was either yelling or crying all the time now. She didn't feel like herself and she hated how everyone must be looking at her, with pity.

Felicity gestured aggressively with her hands, hoping she could penetrate that thick skull of his. Tony was kidding himself if he thought this revised Avengers Initiative - The 50 State Initiative - would build the people's confidence in the superpowered. "Everyone fears what they don't understand, and you want to churn out all these powerhouse law-keepers. You stir up fear, people retaliate. The threat of violence and stereotyping breeds more violence. You know what would work better? A human and metahuman team. Two of theirs for every one of ours. They're badass and people mistakenly think they're metas, but Clint is 100% regular corn-fed American and the only real superpower Natasha has was being able to convincingly play your EA for months without trying to kill you. And you must have conveniently overlooked the reports showing that there is more out of control metahuman related crime now, than there was two years ago. It has spiked at 150%. And I wonder what that coincided with?"

She was really on a runaway train with venting her frustration at Tony, when Thor chimed in with his two cents. "Trained men do not guarantee success on the battlefield, Stark. Numbers matter little."

Tony stopped staring down the feisty blonde and turned to Thor. "Of course you can say that, Thunderer. You single handedly averted that apocalypse in London from that dark elf Malk-beth but even you can't be everywhere at once."

Thor saw Felicity's point. Having powers meant nothing if they had no discipline or sense of honor and duty. "I did not succeed in my quest alone. Without Eric Selvig, Jane, Darcy and her intern, all could have been lost that day. It is important to trust your comrades, our allies. A man's character can only forged through fire and battle. Those groups S.H.I.E.L.D has stationed around the country, even Barton would have them for sport."

It was an ongoing debate between them that out of arrows, Clint was just another trained grunt in a fight. Thor didn't argue that the man could think on his feet but he wasn't an endurance fighter. Clint was unmatched as a marksman. Felicity would never put Hawkeye and Oliver in a room though, that would just be a disaster waiting to happen. The testosterone, competitiveness, coupled with ego, someone or both would be walking away with a limp. He was a brilliant archer and a tactician, those were his strengths. What Thor routinely ignored was that fact that he was physically superior and so was Steve. In hand to hand combat, either of those two against their resident Archer was never a fair fight. Felicity didn't involve herself though. Men hated women interfering in their arguments over masculine prowess. However rational her reasoning, it would have only irked Clint's ego more.

"We're teaching these guys how to use their abilities to protect people. You talk like they need to face off against you, to prove themselves."

"You believe Ultron was the last of it? A warlord looms ever closer and Midgard sits at the center of all the realms. An ideal staging ground in which he could launch all his attacks. He wants the Infinity Gems and he will not be deterred in his quest until they are within his grasp. I came to recruit warriors and what I see are petty men fighting amongst themselves. Your grievances, greed and lusts pale in significance if you could see the universe through the eyes of a King. Loki meant to subjugate humanity in preparation for his puppet master, he failed. Have no doubt Thanos will finish the deed. I mean to stop him before he can source the means to accomplish his goal."

"So what do we do? If we mere mortals are so outclassed?" Tony asked tapping his phone against his palm with impatience.

"Felicity addressed the problem masterfully. Stop making enemies out of possible allies," he said pushing Mjolnir against Tony's reactor free chest. "Recruit those who have seen battle, Stark, men and women with experience. Like Major Danvers, The Wolverine and the one who calls himself Hercules. They will make your New Avengers. Not children forced into training to escape your prisons."

Felicity smirked at Thor's retreating back. He'd left after making his point. Tony eyed her with suspicion. She had a feeling he knew exactly where her thoughts had gone. Steve remembered Logan from the battlefields of WWII. Logan didn't remember Steve but Steve had a perfect recall and could recount anything when asked. Logan had been staunchly against the Registration and hand started sleeping in the forest around Xavier's school just waiting for some government thug to encroach on the private property. Some Black Ops DoD fools had tried kidnapping metahuman children before and were never seen or heard from again. Logan, a.k.a. The Wolverine - the man who fought like a grizzly bear and had bones made of the hardest metal known to man, might only remember fragments of his past, but he was serious about his loyalty and his duty to protect the kids in his care. She didn't fancy Tony's chances of getting Logan to join the Avengers. If Steve or Fury were to ask, that might be a different story. She almost wanted Tony to try anyway. Just so she could stand there with a videocamera. Maybe JARVIS would record it for her, if she asked nicely.

::: ::: :::

Kay left the lights off at night and only had the glow of the fire to guide his way. He was very orderly, so it wasn't as though he needed the light to find anything. "You may choose to work in the shadows but no need to stay in them. I knew you were here the second you set off my window alarm."

"I didn't even see that. Paranoid?" Oliver asked mildly.

"Prepared. Cautious. Experienced. Pick one, son. When will Mr. Diggle be joining us?"

"He won't. He's too visible. Too many eyes on him." Oliver took a seat in the vacant armchair and eyed the brandy Kay gestured to on the table. He wasn't a big drinker but he could smell the malt from across the room. Must be from good stock. He took a sip and set the tumbler down again.

"Some would say the same of the playboy, billionaire, philanthropist, Oliver Queen."

Oliver cracked a smile. "I've had a lot of experience going unnoticed although I have a feeling you know all about that or you wouldn't have contacted me. What is it that you want from me?"

"Why the island? What's in it for you?"

Oliver sat back in his seat and scratched his forehead. He frowned. Why did Kay ask? The island project cost him billions. Sure he had sponsors, and the positive humanitarian appeal mean that his international investors were very impressed by Queen Consolidated's interest in bettering society but did the financial drain, red tape, negative local press and DoD harassment make up for it? He thought on his answer carefully. It was on the tip of his tongue to just rant every thought he had, but instead he paused and thought over it in depth. "I do it to help people. The government was cutting off benefits to known individuals who didn't register. Kids were getting pushed out of the education system and whole families were being turned out on the street. It wasn't just in Starling, it was everywhere. Digg told me what Felicity and Steve were doing but they couldn't be expected to shelter everyone. So I helped the ones who weren't high profile targets. The ones the government didn't really care about because they weren't considered dangerous or power-houses but still abnormal and therefore subject to the Law. There were kids with powers like aura vision, levitation and limited telekinesis who were only in elementary school. Their parents were without any kind of powers and these kids under the law, would have been taken away and sent to these training camps. So it was register and say goodbye to their parents, or runaway and hope they weren't arrested. We gave them another option. Hope had Scott Lang break out anyone who had no record, who'd been detained and offered them our help. We offered asylum to everyone who became a target, and their families. The island is big, and covered in jungle vegetation, the facilities aren't state of the art, but they've all made it home. In fact, I've heard talk that some of them love it and don't plan on leaving anytime soon."

Kay nodded. Seemingly satisfied with something. "In answer to your earlier question. I called you because I needed to tell someone I could trust, in a unique position to rally allies when the war begins." He noticed Oliver startled and open his mouth to protest, but Kay help up his hand to silence him. "We have been secretly infiltrated in all levels of defense. It's been going on for about a year. Around the time the Avengers unofficially disbanded when Hawkeye took leave and the Hulk went AWOL. The only reason I discovered it was because they tried to have me replaced. I've been in this business a long time and when something feels hinky it's because it is. The Skrulls have evolved in their methods. They've tried invading before. I've been taking orders, posing as one of them since I killed the Skrull who was supposed to replace me in my position at MiB. The plan was no doubt to disable the agency somehow when the time of their attack happens. I have been subtle in my searches in gathering Intel. What I recently learned is that they were the ones who took Steve, not Hydra. Felicity and the Avengers has been hunting down leads that they planted. The man they'll find will more than likely be a Skrull."

Oliver's eyes widened. Barry, the speedster metahuman from Central City had run into a shapeshifter before. Was it possible the man had been alien and not metahuman. And why would they steal Steve's body if everyone believed he was dead. Unless he wasn't. He noted that Kay hadn't said that the spies had stolen Steve's body. He said that they'd taken Steve. He didn't think the man was the type to be in any kind of denial. "He's alive? You have to tell her."

"No," he said firmly.

Oliver bristled. Following Steve's mock burial, they'd put an empty coffin in the ground, he'd only seen Felicity once, but the change in her in just a couple of weeks had been staggering. "Have you even seen her lately? She's a shell. There is no light in her eyes and she's lost weight..."

"That's normal. Donna went through the same thing. It's called the first trimester."

"It's called grief," Oliver all but growled at him. He launched out of his chair and started to pace in front of the hearth. "If she finds the Skrull and believes it's Steve only to find out later it's an imposter, it'll crush her. She's a strong but right now it looks like she's barely got it together."

"She's tougher than she looks."

"Right, because she's part Asgardian.," Oliver said with a deepening scowl. "She trusts you, she loves you. How do you think she's going to react when she discovers you knew about this."

"She'll understand because she knows what's at stake. This is my duty. At MiB we protect everyone on Earth. It's why in our recruitment requires that we surrender our birth identity and sever all outside ties. Our obligation has to be to more than any one person or family."

"Sever all ties. Don't make me laugh. You're about as objective as a guy with tunnel vision. Everything you've done these past couple of years is to protect her. You even kept Donna's secret. So why not give her hope? If they took his body and they're planning to replace him, there's a chance he's alive. Right? I know that's what you believe. How does their shifting ability work?"

Kay ran a hand over his face and steepled his fingers before answering. "We're not entirely sure. We've never had a live Skrull to study. They're extremist and faithful in their ideology. It's succeed or die for the cause. Or exile."

Oliver dropped into his chair, staring into the dancing flames. He was never good at subtle. He was the hard edge. Waller had trained him to be her weapon. He would never make a good spy. First, he sucked at lying. Thea and Mari bemoaned over how bad he was at cover stories on a regular basis. Secondly, he didn't have the patience for a long strategic plan. He was a man of action. He could get things done. Sitting on his hands wasn't something he could do. He was beginning to see things from Kay's perspective and he didn't like it. They had no way of knowing yet how many or who the enemy were. "Do you believe he's alive?" Oliver asked quietly.

Kay frowned and watched the younger man for a long moment, wondering if he wanted to know for Felicity's sake or for his own. He wasn't blind. He saw the way the man watched Felicity. There was a torch there. How long it had been burning, he couldn't be sure. In any case, he decided sharing his thoughts on the matter wouldn't do any harm. "I've never met a man more determined than Steve Rogers. He survived being frozen in the Arctic Circle for decades. Got shot to hell by his best friend and dead dropped more than 300ft into the river and left to drown until Barnes had a change of heart. He also shifted several tonnes of concrete while suffering a spinal injury and a serious concussion. The man has everything to live for. My gut says he's alive. And he'll be damn pissed off when he finds out what they've got planned for Earth. If he doesn't find a way back to Felicity himself, I'll eat my favorite pair of shoes."

Oliver leaned forward and rested his fists on his knees. That brief image a selfish part of his psyche had fed him of swooping in to rescue Felicity from a Skrull impersonator when the facade failed, died a quick death at Kay's challenge. In his heart of hearts, he knew she'd never been his to rescue. Not for many years now. "So what's the plan, if we're not mounting our own rescue?"

"Watch the Avengers, watch your recruits on that island of yours. Something looks or sounds off, take note and be prepared. There's only one way to put down a Skrull. You aim for the head. Once it's dead, it can't hold the transformation."

"There's got to be a better way to detect them than that. Kind of difficult to recover from a headshot if we're wrong."

"Don't trust your instincts, son? Wait till they put a bullet in you first. I'm working on something with a man who's had extensive experience with the race. But he's got his hands full with a divided house and that New Avengers Initiative at the moment but as soon as we have something, I'll get it to you."

"Would it be worth asking John if The Guardians know how to deal with them?"

Kay considered his valid question. "If he can spare the trip. Maybe. Just be sure you can trust him."

"You invited him," Oliver argued with a snort.

"I was going to get him to drink the brandy first."

Oliver hiked an eyebrow.

"Truth serum," Kay said unapologetically.

Oliver stood and shook his head. Felicity's uncle was a piece of work. Probably why he was still kicking. In his line of work the hazard pay must be obscene and the average service record short. "It was good to meet you, sir."

Kay nodded. "You're not a bad apple, Queen. We survive this, I might just pay Captain Lance a visit and find out the real reason why he's gunning so hard for you."

Oliver didn't know what to say to that. There were few people in the world that Oliver couldn't read. Kay was one of them. The only thing he knew for certain was that despite what he said, Oliver knew Kay would never put his job before Felicity.

::: ::: :::

Maria shook her head in disbelief at the agents either rolling on the floor in agony or just plain out cold. It was ridiculous. Not that she would dare try it, after watching all her most athletic candidates break ribs, dislocate bones or almost decapitate themselves trying to catch the iconic Vibranium shield.

The day of Steve's State arranged funeral service, Felicity had put the uniform and the shield on top of the empty casket. General Scudder had caused a scene by protesting that she couldn't do that since it was U.S. Government property. Maria rolled her eyes at the memory. Attack the grieving widow. What an ass. He could claim his priceless Vibranium after the burial, the insensitive prink. James Barnes, a.k.a. The Winter Soldier, a.k.a Scary Psycho Son of a Gun (she only called him that in the safety of her own head) had stepped in and given the man the deadliest of looks, the man had moved aside after mumbling an insincere apology.

Of course once the U.S. Army had retrieved the shield, and they ordered her to find physical match for Rogers, and suit him up. Maria sighed. It was as though none of the failed Super Soldier Rebirth programs over the last few decades registered in their teeny tiny brains. There was only one Captain America.

"Not looking so hot, are they," a voice behind her noted. "I think I could at least throw it better than that," she said as she watched a jittery, muscular agent make a half effort at aiming for one of the moving test targets.

"This isn't what I want. We can never replace, Steve," Maria said honestly. Not trusting herself or even having the courage to look at her friend in the face. It was only a recent amendment to the Law that allowed Felicity and others like her - non-residents, i.e. aliens - to move around without the threat of immediate detention. For that small concession, Maria was enormously grateful.

"No, you can't," she said in a way that brokered no argument. "He's irreplaceable. But I've always understood your position, Maria. We both did. And I know that you've always done everything, within the law to help us. But they'll never change, they'll keep pushing until they get what they want. So can I make a suggestion," she asked.

Maria finally met her eyes and hard to swallow and nod because she just didn't have words confronted by the pain she saw in Felicity's eyes.

"Ask Barnes," Felicity said her eyes blinking quickly. "I know for a fact that he'll have no trouble with that," she continued with a pointed nod at the last agent who had just caught a blow to his midsection that looked excruciatingly painful.

"Would he even consider it, let alone not try to shoot me off his doorstep?" Maria never forgot what Felicity looked like the afternoon she picked her up from Bucky's flat. Her friend has been propped against the wall, her face swollen and her skin mottled. There were was a dark bruise in the shape of a hand around her throat and you could actually feel the impression in her tender muscles. Maria had been terrified to touch her further, even more so when Felicity tried to move and had looked up at her with red eyes. All the capillaries in the whites of her eyes had burst. Maria had raced out to the car and got a neck brace from the field medkit in the trunk and forced the woman not to say a word till they could get her proper medical attention.

"It's who Steve would have wanted," Felicity said firmly. "If anyone was going to wear his uniform, he'd want it to be James."

Maria surveyed the carnage on the deck of the hangered Hellicarrier. It looked like she was out of candidates in any case. "Where's Phil when you need him? He always managed the impossible."

Felicity cracked a smile. "It's his gift."

Maria felt her heart skip at the genuine smile on Felicity's face. She wondered the last time Felicity'd had a reason to smile. It faded just as quickly.

"He never did get to sign those cards for him," she said sadly, her lips twisting into a frown.

"Oh didn't Steve ever tell you? He gave Phil the uniform he was pulled out of the Arctic in. The Smithsonian let Steve keep the bloodied up suit he stole from the display, so long as he submitted to be measured up and foot the cost for a replica. Steve repaired the damaged suit himself and gave it to Phil after he found out he'd survived Loki's attack."

Felicity couldn't help it. A tear leaked out and before she knew it she was laughing and crying at the same time. It was such a Steve thing to do. Just give away a priceless artifact because he knew someone valued it more than he did. "Stupid hormones," she groused.

Maria's eyes widened. "Felicity?"

"Don't ask," she said quickly, pursing her lips tightly shut. Her eyes betraying her fear at her loose tongue.

"Won't stay a secret forever," Maria cautioned her.

Felicity shook her head. "For as long as I can, I will. They're not getting anything else from me."

Maria couldn't argue with that. If the DoD knew, they'd probably try to clone it or some crazy mad science thing. She shuddered. She'd erase this entire conversation from the log as soon as she got back to her office.

::: ::: :::

Her first antenatal appointment and Felicity was freaking out. She had locked herself in the bathroom and she was hyperventilating.

She could not bring herself to leave the small sanctuary. Since registering and promptly disappearing from the spotlight again, she had taken Sam up on his offer to share an apartment and split the rent with him. Even though Tony had offered her, her and Steve's old room in the Avengers tower, apparently he's never use it for anything and it was untouched, she knew her nights would be even worse if she had to sleep in their bed alone.

She had hidden herself away from everyone she didn't trust 100%. Even though Kay had vetted this OBGYN for her, and the time for her appointment was ticking closer and closer, she was still not unlocking that door.

A short knock interrupted her pacing and her gnawing of her bottom lip. She stared at the door willing the person to go away and leave her to fret in silence.

"Liss, if you don't trust anyone to know about the baby at least let me do a regular health check on you. And I have ultrasound equipment at the tower, so we can check on junior too."

Felicity stopped pacing. So long as he didn't do any internal exams, she actually didn't think his offer was half bad. In fact. It was a pretty brilliant idea.

"I've delivered a lot of babies in my time," Bruce continued speaking through the locked door.

That sold it. She unlocked the door and opened it enough to see him standing outside. "Really?"

"Lost count," he said honestly with a shrug. "Alaska, India, Central Africa, South America, Latveria," he said as he thought out-loud, counting off on his fingers.

Felicity stilled his hands. "Okay. Wow, you've seen a lot of action. I mean handled a lot of pregnant woman. No internals. Gah stop me will you," she growled as his eyes got brighter and his smile grew with her non-deliberate innuendo.

"Felicity, we'll only do whatever you're comfortable with," he said his lips twitching.

"Did you just…" She glared at him for his teasing. "I thought your job was to make me feel comfortable not make me what to slap you."

Natasha appeared next to them and hooked her arm through Felicity's. "Come on, baby mama. I want to see the color palate I got to work with."

"Might be a little early to tell yet, Tasha."

"There's no manual here. Half-Asgardian, Super Serum infused," Natasha reasoned. "Kid might be ready in a week."

Felicity goggled at her and froze mid-step. She yanked at Bruce's arm. "That's not actually possible, right? My mom carried me for the regular gestation. I was actually a week late. Born 41 weeks. After seriously long labor..." She trailed off, that feeling of paralyzing terror starting to take over again.

"Felicity, I was kidding around. Your baby is going to be perfect, beautiful, healthy and totally normal. You might even end up with two."

"Two? What do you mean two?"' She felt faint and her brain felt sluggish.

"You know twins? Multiples foetuses. It's more rare in unassisted pregnancies, but there's also triplets and quads." Behind Felicity's shoulder Bruce was making weird gestures at her but Natasha ignored him. Information was always valuable. Forewarned is forearmed and all that. Come to think of it, where were all Felicity's pregnancy books? She can't say she saw a single baby-related book in the whole townhouse.

Felicity let Natasha's words sink in, before the fact that she hadn't had lunch seemed to catch up with her and she swayed once before losing it entirely.

Bruce had her before she even dropped an inch, anchoring her in his arms and gently moving her to the sofa. "That was me trying to say, she's not ready, Natasha. She's barely keeping it together. Too much too fast. I was just going to do a blood test and get her blood pressure today. Save the heart beat monitor for tomorrow or in a couple days and set up the ultrasound for when she actually starts measuring closer to twelve weeks. Right now the only thing she's showing is how much weight she's lost."

Natasha grew quiet and thoughtful. "So we need to get her eating and keeping things down. What worked for her mom?"

"You know, I don't think anyone's thought to ask," he smiled at her. "Tasha, you're amazing. Call Donna and then if you could stock the kitchen? You know Liss, she'd never ask and she barely goes out unless one of us go with her."

"I'll take care of it," she kissed him quickly and then brushed the back of her fingers along Felicity's pale cheekbone. "She isn't coping really, is she?."

"We'll find him," Bruce said firmly.

"Bet your ass we will. Barnes and I have another location thanks to the matrix Vision rebuilt before Thor took him to Asgard. We're prepping for a mission to hit the base. Want to come with?"

Bruce shook his head. "I don't think I'm ready yet."

She squeezed his shoulder. "It'll happen. I won't stop asking," she said with a wink. "Rather have you watch my back."

"Me too. But right now, I don't trust myself to not make a mess. He...I would never want to hurt you, even by accident."

Natasha nodded. "We got this one. One of these days, you'll trust yourself as much as I do."

::: ::: :::

Felicity sat curled on the sofa, joined by Jane, Darcy, and Natasha in varying states of slothness, half empty pizza boxes scattered around and empty soda cans and water bottles on the coffee table.

"Darcy, you're a gourmet goddess. I seriously hope this agrees with junior because this has to be the best food I've smelled and eaten in weeks! The only other things I can manage to stomach have been saltines and candied ginger, which my Mom swear by."

Darcy gave her a smug grin. "I was at a college event in Santa Barbara a couple of years ago and we were starving by lunch and just hit the first pizza place we could find. A totally adorable nerd we just hooked up with ordered the pear and gorgonzola pizza and I mean come on fruit on a pizza? I don't eat fruit at all, but my girlfriend dared me to try it, so I did. Gotta be the only fruit I eat ever." She gave Felicity a toothy smile and snapped a picture of Natasha and Felicity curled up against each other. "That's going on my Instagram because no one will ever believe Black Widow can veg out."

Natasha stuck her tongue out at Darcy. "If I don't like the picture, I'm having Felicity delete your account. Fair warning."

"You can't do that!" Darcy cried. "So unfair." She sent a narrowed glare at Felicity. "I bought you gastronomic sustenance. Don't bite the hand that feeds you."

Felicity snorted and snickered before reaching for another slice of pizza. "You two can battle this out alone. I'm Switzerland. And don't threaten the pregnant woman with food or withholding of said food. That's got to be an unwritten law."

Darcy slouched against the over-sized lounge cushions and pouted. She deleted the picture she'd been about to upload, but secretly kept it in her phone album. Natasha scared her a little. She was more afraid the woman might sneakily steal her phone and wipe it clean or just vanish it all together. She was a super-spy after all.

Jane smiled happily at the group, crowded in a the tiny living room and hugged her hot coffee mug between her hands. "I love this. We should definitely do this more often."

"If you come bearing food that my nose approves, come around any time," Felicity said with a satisfied groan. A full stomach was bliss. The company was pretty sweet too. She snuggled in closer to Natasha. The woman's short red hair tickling her neck. Girlfriends were the best. She really didn't know how she'd be coping without them.

::: ::: :::

Felicity was in sweats, a loose t-shirt and a sports bra. Everything else in her wardrobe was starting to feel too tight, and if she felt uncomfortable that was a sure fire bet to end with her hugging the porcelain throne. Begging for a reprieve and mercy.

"Tasha, I haven't seen the inside of a gym for weeks. I haven't crawled out of the bedroom in weeks. Did I mention I've only started having teeny, tiny burst of energy? I actually didn't fall asleep at the laundromat yesterday. It was only Sam calling me to check up on me that I even woke up that last time. I almost burned all my smalls."

"Felicity, Bruce says it's perfectly fine for you to be doing your normal routine. He consulted with a few OBGYNs to be sure, and it's actually good for your birth and recovery if you keep up a regular workout."

Shoulders slumping, Felicity reluctantly started her stretches. "Ride my ass, why don't you. Slave driver."

Natasha bounced on the spot and did a few burpees before she gave Felicity a syrupy smile. "Exercise releases endorphins. Endorphins make people happy. Happy people don't kill people."

"Sometimes I worry about how much pop culture you randomly reference." Then she paused mid-stretch. Actually she shouldn't be surprised, she thought with a mental grimace. Natasha had a stolen childhood to make up for. At least she was embracing her freedom in a healthy way. She could have chosen to hunt down every one of her abusers and kill them all for what they'd done to her as a young girl. Instead she was devoting herself to being a protector of the innocent and an instrument for justice within the law. And Felicity couldn't be more proud of her for her choices.

Natasha watched, reading every emotion that had flickered in her eyes. It's why she adored Felicity. The truth and her heart were always right there for anyone to see. There was never any pretense. She understood why Steve had fallen so hard for her. She was everything their world tried to drill out of them as soldiers, spies, assassins - compassion, kindness, empathy, love and hope. Sentiments like that were a sure fire way to get you killed and fail your mission.

"Come on, Valkyrie," Natasha said in a teasing tone. "Show me something fierce."

Felicity took a fighting stance and raised a worried eyebrow. "Are you sure it's safe?"

Natasha nodded. "There'll be no midsection shots from me and we're on the mats. Just make sure you don't overextend okay. Your muscles have increased blood flow and they're more relaxed. Keep your core tight and remember to counter balance."

Ten minutes in, she realized how much Natasha had accounted for her pregnancy body. Natasha's counter moves were barely touches, merely deflections and if anything, she was correcting Felicity's stance like she had done when they'd first started training, instead of using her weak points to her advantage. Felicity appreciated what she was doing. She was teaching her how to better defend herself now that her body was going through rapid changes.

An hour later, Felicity was doing her best to walk off the workout rather than lay flat on her back, which is what she dearly wanted to do. Probably not a good idea. She might never get up. "Thank you, Natasha. I didn't realize how much I needed this until now. I'm dead on my feet but I feel awesome. Is that weird?"

Natasha grinned. "Only our special brand of weird. Come on, I have a scientist to steal out of lab."

Felicity chuckled and headed for the showers with Natasha.

:: ::: :::

This was the fourth suspected Hydra base they'd infiltrated in the past few weeks. It helped that Bucky was starting to remember more about his years as the Winter Soldier and those where some of the first locations they had looked into. Most of the facilities had been decommissioned a long time ago but just being there seemed to set off even more memories. So the day they found Steve, Barnes was so familiar with the set up that no one questioned how they should proceed.

Steve was in a cryo-chamber almost exactly like the one Bucky had been in while on ice. There was also an indoctrination and electrotherapy chair set up nearby. Hydra must have been laughing when they set this up. They lost the Winter Soldier but they gained Captain America. The man responsible for foiling their end game in the last inning.

The energy the entire flight back had been unbelievable. By the time the jet had landed on the roof, the tower had been inundated with visitors. The Avengers Tower hadn't been such a buzz of activity since the house party, in their first year. Maria, General Scudder and Dr. Cecilia Reyes, oversaw the thaw process. Rhodey and Barnes was on standby in case they needed to subdue him and Natasha was doing her best to keep Felicity from going out of her mind with anxiety.

Felicity couldn't sit still. And she couldn't even stress eat because the tower was all out of her favorites and she didn't dare chance just raiding the fridge since her stomach was already a barrel of nerves and she didn't want to be locked up in the bathroom once Steve actually woke up.

"What can I do?" Natasha asked her quietly. Watching Felicity was making her nervous. Black Widow didn't do nervous. If she got that antsy itchy feeling, she just started shooting things. The range was out right now because Felicity wasn't going anywhere. She hadn't moved from Bruce's lab since they brought the chamber down. She could see Dr. Reyes' lab through the thick plexi-glass and she didn't want to leave. She wanted to be there when he woke up.

The thaw process was slow. They had to warm the inside of the body and the same time they warmed the surface of his body. That meant running the chamber's dialysis to drain his blood, which had probably been infused with some special compound to keep it from shredding his veins and tissue. And then slowly raise the core temperature and the surface temperature in tandem, while reintroducing the warmed blood. They were at the three-hour mark now. Core temperature was almost within normal range.

No one was surprised when he took his first breath on his own, and his heart just started beating. What did surprise everyone, however, was the first words that had come out of his mouth, "My name is Steve Rogers. I am Captain America. Social Security number…"

The enemy had broken, America's Super Soldier.

::: ::: :::

Bucky tried to explain it to her while Sam and Natasha sat either side of her in a quiet show of support.

Felicity was still reeling over the fact that the man who wore her husband's face, still bore the scars of his shooting on his chest, looked exactly as she remembered him, but couldn't remember her. Didn't show an ounce of recognition at seeing her in his room. She was a stranger.

Maria had been sympathetic while Scudder had actually looked smug. She could have punched him clear through the lab glass window if Bruce hadn't put a staying hand on her shoulder.

"Steve?" she said her voice hitching. She moved closer to reach for him but he actually startled, like he was afraid of her.

"It's probably part of the conditioning," Natasha said gently. "They try to dehumanise you, to break you, make you more pliant and susceptible to their handlers. His responses are similar to what Vision saw in Sharon Carter's mind. Only whoever released her, built a mental block around her experience so no one would suspect she'd ever been held captive."

"Sir," Steve said addressing the General. He was the only person in the room wearing a uniform and insignia he could identify. "Was I rescued? How long was I a POW?"

"You were held captive by Hydra, son. Just rest easy for now. Once your doctors say you're fit for duty, you can report to me," General Scudder said with authority.

Felicity bristled. "I am his power of attorney and he's been through hell. I'll say when he's fit for duty and I'll determine who handles his care," she growled threateningly at the man.

Scudder blinked at her and folded his hand neatly behind his back. "Steve Roger's is an officer of the U.S. Army. He will be seen to by our doctors and no court is going to overrule us here." He gave a pointed look at her midsection. "Besides I believe you have more pressing concerns, yes?"

Felicity saw red, she launched herself at him. "You son of a bitch." She felt Natasha bodily dragging her back. She hadn't even got to punch the smirk off his face. "You stay away from my family. I will end you!" she screamed at him, as she was pulled out of the room.

Bruce and Natasha were struggling to hold her. They didn't want to hurt her by holding her too tight but she was fighting to free herself like a wildcat.

"He's a four-star General, who has the ear of the Secretary of Defense and sits on the oversight committee for S.H.I.E.L.D. and every other intelligence agency in this country. Next to Ross, he's a tiger shark. You don't want to make him an enemy," Bruce seethed at her. "Liss, come on. Think. Don't let the anger take over. Anger makes us stupid."

Felicity deflated quickly. She hated the idea that she could ever be stupid. But Bruce was right, anger clouded the brain. She needed to be calm and think. She needed a plan. Right now General Scudder would probably be doing everything to make sure that Steve never laid eyes on her again.

"The Army doesn't get him until he has all his memories back," she said firmly. "He has to be of sound mind and body. We've got to find military doctors that wouldn't stand for top dog pressure and will stand by their ethical code like pitbulls."

"That's our girl," Bruce said proudly.

::: ::: :::

Days turned into weeks, and there was no change. Steve was making new memories and retaining them with no trouble. At this rate even the doctors they had found would be clearing him fit for duty any day now. The latest reports concluded that the time in captivity was probably too traumatic for his brain to recall at the moment. The most conservative estimate had him returning to active duty in a month if he continued to show progress in his therapy sessions.

He was staying in guest room in the Avengers Tower. Bucky had moved in too. He didn't remember Bucky either, and considering he and Steve had been friends since childhood, Felicity knew this couldn't be any easier for him either. She actually wondered if Bucky felt guilty for Steve's condition. It was insane. He hadn't been responsible for Steve's capture but Felicity didn't argue with what she could see. And she saw guilt on James' face every time he passed Steve's room.

"Why?" she asked finally, when she'd seen him glance away when he saw Steve laugh at something Tony had said.

"Because since he rescued me from Hydra in the war, I've always been jealous of him. I was the one protecting him. I was bigger than him, more popular, I'd served longer and then all of sudden his Captain America and he was the one leading and protecting me. Its part of what fed into the hatred and the programming later. I was envious and it ate at me. Now he's broken. He doesn't know who he is. He suffered the same as I did, and I can't shake this feeling in me because I know part of me wished he had. And this is the result. I took your happiness after all."

Felicity didn't know what to say to that. She was shocked. Rattled that Bucky had actually felt that way long before Hydra had stolen his humanity and turned him into a cold-blooded assassin. She had never had that kind of love/envy relationship with anyone. Bucky let out a breath and walked away while Felicity blinked back pained stinging in her eyes. She glanced between Steve and his forgotten best friend and wondered just how much more the evil in the world would take from them.

::: ::: :::

 **Elsewhere**

Steve scratched at the hair on his chin, it was a full beard now. The growth of scruff in the first few days had been beyond annoying. He'd never gone without shaving. Even in the war days he'd had his razor in his pack. He didn't even want to consider the state of his hair. It routinely flopped into his eyes and tickled his neck. There were a lot of adjustments he had, had to make over the lack of normal comforts.

Here they fed him once a day. They rolled a canteen of water into his force-field cell. If he didn't roll it back out when it was empty, they just didn't bother with him. Two days of no water, and he yelling, realized no one was going to talk to him or cared if he died of thirst. So he had just thrown it out of the meal slot and waited. The next day, the canteen was back, accompanying his morning meal. At least he assumed it was morning. There were no windows. He didn't know where he was or what time of day it was. He'd kept track of the days by scratching at the wall with the spork like utensil they gave him to eat with.

It took him a week to figure out the lavatory doubled as a hygiene unit. It vacuumed waste from the bowl like it did on commercial airliners. The pulse ray, whatever it was they used to kill surface bacteria, it felt weird anyway, was their version of a shower. Whenever he stepped behind the screen of glass, the surface went opaque and he could strip down and use the ray in relative privacy. When his clothing started to feel gross, he'd put them under the ray too and it didn't help with the skin build up but it stopped the smell.

The sleeping mat was surprisingly comfortable. It felt like a cross between a thin air bed and a foam bed roll, the ones they had while roughing in survival training at Camp Pendleton. When he wasn't sleeping, he exercised. It helped him recover. When he'd first woken up in his cell, he'd felt the raw scars on his chest and he remembered just how he'd gotten them. It had taken a week for him to be able to even attempt a wall press-up. He'd started slow, and only pushed so far as his body was ready for. He finally let like he was close to peak again. Or as good as he could manage with no equipment whatsoever. He could lift his body weight on one arm, and he could 100 burpees in less than 5 minutes and not feel like his chest was about to explode. He called that progress.

They obviously had special lights in his cell, because he knew otherwise his body would be feeling the lack of vitamin D by now. He hadn't seen sky or daylight in months but he knew that there had to be some kind of UV exposure. The mark of his wedding band was fading. The day of Peggy's funeral, he'd worn it around his neck on a chain. The only time he took it off was if they were together in public. Their marriage was their own business, no one else's. He'd torn a strip off his sleeve and tied it around his finger. There were no reflective surfaces so he hadn't seen his own face for months but that mark more than anything reminded him of who he was and who was waiting for him. Felicity would never give up on him. She would fight for him. And he would do his best to find his way back to her.

::: ::: :::

Felicity nervously clutched at the blue scrubs Bruce had, had her put on. He was holding the wand in his hand and a bottle of gel in the other. She glanced at the dark monitor and squeezed her eyes shut for a long moment, telling herself not to cry and to just breathe.

"Are you ready?" he asked gently.

Chewing down hard on her bottom lip to keep it from wobbling, she opened her eyes and blinked up at him. She nodded quickly and lifted her top. The gel was cold just like he'd warned her but all too soon a wub, wub, wooshing sound coming the ultrasound machine cancelled every other concern from her mind.

A shape emerged from the grayish-blank void and she saw her baby. Their baby.

Tears burned in her eyes and she tried to hold in her emotions but they burst out of her in a sob. She gripped her shirt in a white knuckle grip in on hand and held onto Natasha's hand with the other till she felt resistance. She needed that anchoring feeling right now, of someone holding her back. She was being swept away by the image of that tiny being growing inside her and she was terrified. This was a reality she couldn't face alone.

"Strong heartbeat. And very active. Can you feel that?" Bruce asked. "Looks like hiccups."

Felicity shook her head and stared unblinkingly at the screen, she could feel a bout of hiccups of her own coming on, which how hard she was struggling not to give in and cry her heart out.

"Some mothers start feeling movements around 14 weeks. You're not far off. With how active this little one is, I wouldn't be surprised if you feel a kick or two soon."

"He looks at me now. He doesn't avoid me but he still has no idea who I am," Felicity said, voice cracking. "I can't even share this with him, because it wouldn't mean anything to him."

Natasha held Felicity's trembling shoulders and Bruce wiped away the gel from her skin and shut down the machine. They quietly embraced her and held her until she was all cried out. No one argued the nutritional value of her meal when she said she was eating a whole tub of Ben & Jerry's after dinner.

Later that night, when they'd roped the returning New Avengers team into watching a Star Wars Clone Wars marathon, Bruce had to bite his tongue following Natasha's warning look when Felicity fell asleep against Bucky, who was wearing Steve's uniform after another successful, peacekeeping mission. Maybe he could quietly suggest that Felicity spend more time away from the tower with Natasha, someplace else. Felicity had moved back in when they'd found Steve. She'd been staying in their old room.

Natasha and Carol didn't get a long, and honestly, neither did Felicity. In her attitude, sometimes Carol reminded them both a little too much of Tony. She was confrontational and didn't mind stepping on toes, sometimes everyone's in one breath. Male figures of authority, she could barely tolerate having been overlooked and undervalued as a child, and then hung out to dry by NASA when she'd failed to mount proper defensive measures against extra-terrestrial threats, .i.e. the Chitauri, and Malekith, and a few others Kay had mentioned that the MiB had wiped from official record. Carol. a.k.a. Captain Marvel's powers were phenomenal and occasionally, out of control. Felicity didn't feel comfortable around the woman. Putting a bit of distance between Barnes and Felicity, not to mention Felicity and the still amnesiac!Steve would probably be a good thing too.


	16. Invasion

**Summary:** In their attempts to manipulate Steve Rogers into betraying Earth's defensive secrets, the Skrulls inadvertently sabotage their invasion. The humans discover their intent. Some of the Skrulls carefully laid plans are successful, others are foiled. But with enemies in their midst, even the strongest can fall. The Avengers are no exception.

::: ::: :::

 **Griffin Institute, undisclosed location, off the coast of Africa**

Hope leaned against the desk and eyed Oliver like he'd been drinking too much of his stash of Smirnoff from his bottom desk drawer, that he didn't think she knew he had.

Everyone thought post-Island Oliver was dry and sober. He wasn't the wild bad boy the news and tabloids had shown him to be in the past, but Oliver knew how to party and he still drank. He just didn't drink very often. However if he was feeling cornered or particularly disconsolate, he would try to numb his brain. In this instance, Hope couldn't figure out what had caused this bout of escapism and wasn't about to make any snap judgements over whether he was drunk or just nuts.

"You're saying there could be these shape-shifting aliens on our island?"

"I'm saying, we should be prepared if there are. We're isolated here. If they have planned a full scale invasion, we need to be ready to protect our people." Oliver set down a slim case down on the desk. "It sends electrical impulses to the brain that allows us to see the way they manipulate their cellular structure. There weren't many made, some of the components are difficult to source, I'm told and they didn't want to draw undue attention to what we're doing. We have two of only four in existence. One is in New York, and the other on it's way to MI-6 in London."

"Why spare two on us then?"

Oliver ran a tired hand through his closely cropped hair. "We have the highest concentration of metahumans, who have all chosen to be here. If there really is a war coming, I'd like to think all of them are here because they want to live in peaceful harmony. But if there are Skrulls on our island. It's possible they're plants made to take out the biggest threats to their invasion. I'm hoping that's not the case, but that's plain wishful thinking. There better not be trouble, or I'll hit them so fast they won't even see it coming. But Hope, if they start a war out there, you know where I'll be."

"Scott and I will be there too. I'll take a look at the tech and see if I can reverse engineer the design. It might be compatible with the suit. It'll help to have more eyes, right?"

::: ::: :::

 **Avengers Tower, New York**

Natasha brought her batons down hard and they connected with Felicity's shield arm. She had to shake off the resulting impact and dodge quickly to avoid taking a blow to the head, even though she had felt the ricochet all the way to her toes. There was no hesitation or restraint in her sparring partner's fighting style anymore. Felicity had absorbed everything they had taught her and grown stronger and faster with each passing month of training. Natasha wouldn't say it in front of the men, but she was easily in the league of Sam and Clint in her strength. If Felicity had been using a real sword instead of a dulled training one, Natasha had doubts that her batons would hold up against her attacks for very long.

Ever since Felicity had learned that her birth father's skill lay with the sword, she'd been curious to learn. The only one with fencing experience was Barnes. He'd taken fencing lessons in school and that skill had been expanded on by Hydra in his captive years.

The training room door opened and revealed the man of her current train of thought.

He was in the Captain's uniform and it wouldn't matter how many times he appeared without the masked helmet, Natasha would never get used to seeing him in it.

Felicity lowered her sword and smiled at Bucky in greeting. "How'd it go?"

It was his first assignment leading a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. For lack of a better adjective, he looked harassed. Natasha could only imagine his mental state. She remembered her first days working with agents without Clint and she grimaced in sympathy. It had taken years to earn the trust of the agents they worked with. And with every new recruit, it would start the process over. She lived for the solo or duo missions, where she would only have to work with Clint. Someone she knew she could count on to have her back and not second guess her decisions. It had taken work, but she'd finally gotten Steve to a place of trust. It hadn't been easy even after he'd seen her in action in New York and they'd trained together for a few months. It was only after they were the only two standing after Nick 'died' and they learned of Dr. Arnim Zola's plans and they survived him trying to burn them to ash that she felt they'd forged a solid trust between them. As evidenced by his mere slightly raised eyebrow in question over her interrogation methods later as opposed to what would have been vocal disapproval in the past.

"That good, huh?" Felicity bantered at Barnes' troubled and fatigued expression. "If you want to blow off some steam, I'm up for it."

Bucky stopped lingering at the edge of the training floor and Natasha happily tapped out, when Bucky motioned for her batons. She hadn't planned to watch but her eyes widened and she had to remind herself to breathe when Bucky launched into a no holds barred attack and struck at Felicity with all the ferocity of a man possessed by single minded purpose. To be the last man standing. Adrenaline shooting through her, Natasha curled her hand around the neck of the water bottle she was holding and debated internally whether she should intervene.

To her credit, Felicity didn't flinch and did her best to keep up with his blows. She was so busy deflecting and parrying his attacks that she couldn't get a single sweep in. Hoping to keep his eyes trained on her upper body, she used her shield arm and her sword to block him, while she kicked at his knee and only just managed to keep her balance. Bucky didn't however and lost momentum in his latest swing. Felicity didn't waste her opportunity and ran her shield into his chest, knocking him to the floor. She straddled shoulders and pinned his arms with her knees, putting the point of her sword against the hollow of his throat. "Yield?"

It had been a furious five minutes, but one that Natasha wouldn't soon forget. She honestly feared for a moment there that Bucky really wanted to hurt Felicity. He was breathing hard on his back, his nostrils flaring and his eyes still as dark, if not darker than when he came in, glaring up at her. Intense fire still clear in the tension of his body and his expression.

Bucky ripped the sword from her grasp and it clattered to the floor loudly a respectable distance away. He had her on her back, his hand at her throat and his weight pinning her legs in the space of heartbeat. "Who am I?" he growled at her.

When Felicity was too startled and winded to answer, he leaned down and smashed his fist against the training mat by her head. "Answer me," he spat.

Eyes wide and fear taking over, Felicity dropped her shield and grabbed his wrist with both hands. Her fear dialed back slightly feeling warm flesh beneath the fabric of his uniform. She could break his hold if she wanted to. There would be no stopping him if he'd used his bionic arm. "James. You're James," she choked. He wasn't hurting her yet but the turmoil in his eyes unsettled her. She didn't fear for herself, but she feared that in his rage, he might hurt the baby. He must still have some control because he hadn't sat on her stomach to pin her down. "Talk to me," she forced out. His fingers were starting to tighten, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Natasha moving to retrieve one of the electrical batons from the rack. With a subtle gesture, she waved her down. "James, please," she pleaded with him again.

His hardened mask broke and he released her as though she'd burned him. A second later he was off her and he stood, trembling bodily faced away from her. Felicity pushed herself upright and shook her head when Natasha made a move to help her. She gestured for her to go. Natasha gave her a look that spoke volumes of her concern but moved out of sight in the shadow of the corridor that lead to the communal bathroom .

"What happened out there?"

His shoulders stiffened and with his head bowed, Bucky still didn't face her. "It's not them," he said still breathing hard. "It's you."

Felicity recoiled, blinking rapidly. What had she done? She wracked her brain trying to think what she could have possibly said or done to provoke this kind of reaction from him. At her silence, Bucky whirled on her and grabbed her arms.

"You don't even deny it," he raged at her. "I'm not him. You can't have him back, so you thought you'd grab the next best thing? His best friend. Why not, huh? We're the same age, we grew up together. You put me in his uniform. Give me his job. What next? Do you think I'll make a good fill in lover?" he sneered at her bitterly.

Felicity was in shock. She was too rattled to verbally retaliate to his taunts but that didn't stop the burning anger that simmered in her veins at his insinuation that she would ever try to get him to fill Steve's shoes. Those were impossible boots to fill. Not even the shell of the man that they'd rescued could do that, and he had all the right genetics going for him. "Don't you dare," she cried at him. "When have I ever even given you the slightest impression I want you!"

Bucky smiled at her cruelly. "You don't remember curling up to me. Falling asleep on my shoulder? I certainly can't. It's been a long time since I've had a woman willingly come to me. Especially one as beautiful as you."

Ordinarily, Felicity would have blushed at the compliment, but James hadn't meant it as one. Not really. There was ice in his expression and his lips were twisted in a sneer.

"Are you sleeping with him yet? I bet he wouldn't deny you that."

Felicity felt hot tears build in earnest. "Why are you doing this?"

Bucky saw her tears and closed his eyes, turned away from her and pulled at his hair. "Because you're doing it to me. Making me want...I'm not him, and damn it... I look at you and it's...like. It's that burning all over again. He doesn't even realize what he has. He has everything and to him it's nothing. It's the war, Hydra, pain and... He's my brother and love him but sometimes I can't stand to look at him."

Felicity didn't dare move. He was so volatile when he was like this. Lost in his memories. Ghosts of the past, tormentors both the hands of Hydra and his jaded memories of Steve. She couldn't help him when he was like this, stuck inside his own head. She waited patiently, carefully, for his strength of grit to win out. For the James Buchanan Barnes, that Steve had always believed in, that he'd convinced her was worth fighting for, to come back to them. This man she fought for - for the both of them, now that Steve had forgotten his friend - he was sometimes lost but struggling to stay with them. She couldn't let him struggle alone. "Yes, I recommended you for the uniform. To bear the shield but it was all down to you in the end. No one says you have to do this, James."

She watched as his fists uncurled and she saw a tear trek down his cheek. Felicity touched him carefully on the shoulder but did nothing else. Just silently proving to him that she wasn't leaving. No matter how much he wanted to frighten her off. Her family was small. There weren't many people she needed in her life, but James had become one of them. Especially after she lost Steve. Even though he was back, he wasn't really. He hadn't even tried to get to know her. She wasn't sure if that was the General's doing, or Steve himself but it didn't make it hurt any less. "You can take off the uniform, it wouldn't make me care about you any less. You're his family, James. No matter how much you might rile at me, or hate him for what we've survived, for what we have, I won't give up on you. It's times where we think we're at our lowest, that we're not worthy, that the ones we love, should love us the most. It's when we need to feel love the most. Steve's not here. He can't tell you himself, so I'm doing it for the both of us."

"I'm giving it back to them," Bucky said firmly as though still trying to dissuade her of her confidence in his ability to work through his PTSD and all his anger at the world, to be worthy of her love for him. "I don't think it's good for either of us. I felt like I was just starting to figure out who I was and then Director Hill shows up with all this. And it can't be easy for you," he said softly. "And I'm sorry. I was way out of line..."

"Can we forget that?" Felicity said with a bitter laugh. "I know I don't want to think about it. I can tell you with absolute certainty that for the past couple of months, I haven't even thought about _that_ with any kind of passing fancy. With the all-day nausea, tiredness, muscle twinges, vomiting and headaches..."

Bucky grimaced. "Oversharing," he said in a put-upon voice.

Felicity punched him in the shoulder. "You deserve it, buster."

Bucky winced at her strength and let out a long breath. "So you'd be okay with them giving it to Steve?"

Felicity stiffened as her brain actually processed the thought. Would she be? It rightfully belong to him but part of her just rallied against the idea. The most pressing argument was that she just didn't think he was ready. Physically or mentally. "Honestly, no, but again, it's not my call to make. My opinions amount to little more than hot air with the DoD and I had only a token say in regards to Steve's care. When the doctors said he was fit and of sound mind, my opinion ceased to have any weight at all."

"Have you talked to him at all lately?"

Felicity bent to pick up her fallen weapons and felt a twinge in her side that reminded her that she had over extended her muscles and she should have bent her knees. Very soon she wouldn't be able to bend over at all. "I'm not a charity case, Barnes."

Bucky snorted. "Neither am I and you know that wasn't what I meant." Damn and blast if setting her up with his amnesiac former best friend was the last thing he actually wanted. But this wasn't about what he wished for. "He seems curious about you, you know. I overheard him asking JARVIS if he could access your old rooms. JARVIS said he'd need your permission. Since I was there and I heard, I suggested he should just talk to you."

Steve had wanted to get into their room at the tower? What was odd, was that she hadn't changed the code since they'd gone on the run. JARVIS had full control of the tower and she had never locked him out of her lab or her room. Why would he deny Steve access? And even more curious was why would Steve want to access it unless he was beginning to remember things prior to his shooting. And if he was, why hadn't he come to her? Her heart beat picked up in her chest and a blush crept over her cheeks. "Why wouldn't he talk to me? Last month when I bought him a birthday gift he didn't even recognise my handwriting or know what to do with the box of mixed art materials. It's like the man I married no longer exists. He might as well be a doppelgänger with Steve's name."

Bucky watched her with sorrowful eyes. "I know what you mean. He doesn't like any of the things Steve used to be crazy about. Like he hates squash now. How can you hate squash? It's an all American thing. That's like saying you hate pumpkin pie. Isn't it all pumpkin and squash?"

Felicity snorted at the memory of Steve at their first Thanksgiving and his face when she's told him that she'd never celebrated Thanksgiving. He'd flustered for a moment before recovering and saying even though she was Jewish surly she could appreciate the sentiment and the food. She's smiled brightly at him and kissed him soundly, saying she'd never let his gourmet delights go to waste. It was such a novel thing watching her seasoned, straight laced soldier blush as bright as a cranberry in front of their friends. All of a sudden, a sob bubbled up from her chest and she wrapped her arms around herself tightly, desperate to keep it buried. "I miss him so much," she blurted.

Bucky didn't let her crumble alone. Understanding her pain, he put his arms around her and hugged her until her sobs quieted. He caught a flash of red hair catch a sliver of light from the shadows and knew Natasha trusted him enough to leave them now. While he hated that he had let his demons get the better of him and that someone else had been there to see it, he was also grateful that Felicity had protectors. Last time they'd been lucky. He'd been lucky she was more than human. She had too much faith in others. Her trust was sometimes misplaced. But he swore in his heart that he'd do better. He owed it not only to the boy who saw another poor kid in an alley and took pity on him. Befriended him. Shared his family and his food with him through the tough times when groceries and essentials were hard to come by, the boy his parents had lovingly raised. He also wanted to prove himself worthy of the love Steve and now, Felicity so freely gave him. And who knew, maybe someday he'd find himself a dame, as amazing and as loyal as Steve had.

::: ::: :::

Fandral stood next to Heimdall trying not too look overeager. Their plans to capture Loki and have him tried for his crimes didn't go as planned. As soon as Heimdall breeched the Bifrost Gate, Loki had fled the throne room. Thor even with Mojlnir's speed to aid him couldn't catch the traitor. He had found himself an ally in the Enchantress and her bodyguard. They'd opened a portal and disappeared before anyone could stop them.

Thor had parties searching all the realms but so far there was no sign of Loki.

When Heimdall was markedly closed lipped and unforthcoming, Fandral realized he'd have to be direct.

"How does she fare, my good friend?"

Heimdall didn't blink and continued to stare out into the glittering universe at their feet. After a long moment of silence he sighed. "As she is only half mortal I will tell you, she would do better with instruction from her father and weapons better suited to her hands."

Fandral's face a lit with an idea. "Of course. How thoughtless of me. Of course she would need her own sword. One fit for a Valkyrie. Worthy of a Champion of Asgard. And a most prized steed as well."

Heimdall opened his mouth to interject that was going too far since she would hardly be inconspicuous riding a Pegasus as was the chosen steed of all Valkyrie but the man was already gone. Impulsive rogue, he was still as troublesome as their beloved Prince once was. He wondered how many more centuries would pass before he would learn temperance and caution. Perhaps Felicity would teach him. Heimdall cracked a glimmer of a smile before his face turned stoic once more. He did worry for the child. Shadows circled her day and night. Most worrisome was the man posing as her husband. He saw many troubling things as an all see-er but as was the weight of the gift, it was not his place to share his observations with anyone but the King of Asgard. Perhaps when Thor next came to him, he would tell him of the growing threat he'd seen on Midgard. Thor had only asked him to watch for movement from Thanos and any threats to Jane. So far the mortal woman was safe and Thanos' attention remained focused on capturing the stones. He's stealth forces were planning a strategic raid on Nova Prime. He would have to advise Thor on that too. His silent pondering didn't remain so for long.

"A bridge to the Dwarf Kingdom, Gatekeeper," an enthusiastic voice proclaimed. So Fandral the Dashing had returned post haste.

"I hope you remembered a worthy exchange for fair payment," Heimdall cautioned.

"He will not go alone, Heimdall. The Dwarves should meet with the new King of Asgard."

"Just so, My King," Heimdall said, with a bow. "A word upon your return."

Thor acknowledged his request and smiled fondly at Fandral's nerves. The man was smiling and pacing. To see his charming, old friend so undone was humorous. To think he could be so turned, not by a beauty he wished to bed but by a half mortal woman he only wished to protect and cherish. He laughed to himself. A few years ago it was he who had surprised his friends by forgetting immortality and lost his heart to a mortal. They were strong, loyal, passionate and surprising these mortals. Thor was happy for Fandral and proud for him too, for Felicity was a rare character of bravery and loyalty. As intelligent as she was beautiful. Much like Jane in that sense. But with the hidden strength of a warrior and a passion for justice that Mojlnir had sensed. Perhaps he could ask the dwarves to enchant her weapon to harness the power of thunder so she wouldn't feel compelled to relieve him of his weapon when she had dire need. It was with that thought on his mind that they made their journey via the Bifrost.

::: :::

 **Skrull Warship, orbiting Saturn, hidden in the shadow of Tethys**

"How many orbital defense systems are there?"

The electrical probe hit him again. Right in that spot the other green creature had stabbed him in yesterday. At least he thought it was yesterday. All the days ran together now. It was a blur of pain and extreme fatigue. His mind was dulling under the lack of rest and nourishment. They had known of the damage to his heart and they had allowed him to fully heal before they had begun his interrogation.

Other memories were foggy and hard to pull up now, but he still remembered when he first laid eyes on them. It was the day he'd realized that not every being out in the galaxy looked like Thor. And he begun to appreciate the real complexities and dangers of Kay's job. The man had always threatened to show him. Yet, these creatures weren't frightening in appearance. They were just relentless and brutal. Sadistic in their enjoyment of his suffering. But he didn't give them the satisfaction of breaking his spirit. Even if the first thing they'd taken was the simple cloth band around his finger.

"Your wife, she's quite beautiful, yes. Fierce, passionate and young. She would bear strong offspring."

"You won't touch her," Steve growled, his entire body thrumming with anger and he pulled with all his might against his bonds. But the metal clamps wouldn't give an inch and he felt the skin of his hands and arms tear against his pulling.

The Skrull leaned over him and smiled cruelly. "We did not know you had a wife. It almost foiled our plans but another agent we had in place, suggested a new course of action and everything has come along quite nicely. Perhaps, I will ask them to send us footage, yes? Would that make you more cooperative? Should I ask them to be gentle?"

Steve felt his heart threatening to burst out of his chest. Fear for Felicity, what they might do to her. He tried to remind himself she could fight, she was strong and she was surrounded by their friends who would die to protect her, but all he could think was that he wasn't there. And these creatures knew who she was and from his taunts, it seemed like they already had her within their reach. "If you have any honor, you will leave her alone."

"You are in no position to negotiate. And your blue planet will be ours. It has been foretold. If your kind do not yield, you will fall. I can offer you a position of worth if you submit to us now."

Steve could read from the superior air in his posture, and the dark gleam in the creature's eyes, that it was an empty promise. Steve prayed for Felicity's safety and held his chin high. "I will not yield. And neither will Earth's people."

"Tales of your endurance and your strength are renown. We saw with our own eyes how quickly you recovered from your wounds. Let us put your conviction to the test, shall we? Perhaps if we were to bring your wife here, you would be more cooperative."

Steve clung to the belief that Kay and their friends wouldn't fail in their defense of Earth and Felicity. And he would stay strong, resist, and wait for an opening, an opportunity to escape. They were an arrogant race. Not one of the creatures he'd encountered, showed any measure of humility or compassion.

"How many are part of your resistance and what is the chain of command?"

The voltage was turned up when he refused to speak. When he didn't answer again, his interrogator grew tired of his obstinacy. "Perhaps another will loosen your tongue."

It was the first time he'd seen a female of their kind. She was tall and delicately formed in contrast to their heavier, more muscular builds. "Hello, Mr. Rogers. I understand you're giving our technicians all manner of trouble. Perhaps I can appeal to you. There is no need for this," she waved at his bloodied and bruised body. "Do you think your silence protects her? She already revealed herself to your world. She is subject to the same laws as everyone else. She is no longer even in hiding. We could take her at anytime, but for the moment we have allowed her freedom. Your continued stubbornness will make things difficult for her. Felicity Rogers, Class Level: A. Category: Asgardian, Powers: Increased Strength, Superhuman Endurance, Medium Level Invulnerability. Skills: Weapons training, proficient in various fighting styles. She is registered. Your government has given us all we need to know to be able to successfully hunt down the superhumans of your planet. Earth's defenses without your heroes will fall quickly under the infiltration of our operatives. We are giving you a chance. You have my guarantee that we will not touch your wife, if you will work with us."

"My wife would never register. And she would never give up protecting those who took refuge with us."

"Play the transmission," she said with and impatient wave of her hand.

A holographic display appeared before him and played Felicity's public address from Capitol Hill. He could see Thor and his warriors, Oliver and John standing in sentinel support of her. He watched his heart aching in his chest at the sight of her after so long. How beautiful she was in her grief and anger. He saw the pain in her eyes, the rawness of her emotions. He understood what had driven her to this. She honestly believed she was fighting on alone. "With her family around, you'll never touch her."

The female smiled cruelly. "Thor and his warriors are not on Earth. Neither is the being, The Vision. Your wife is alone."

Steve felt a chill throughout his body. Kay promised him that if he fell, that he would protect Felicity. He promised that he would keep her safe. Even send her to Asgard. Why would Kay let her remain on Earth, if Thor and her father had returned for her and he was no longer around to support her himself. "The Asgardians are not her only allies," he said firmly, hoping his doubts didn't betray him.

"No, they're not. And yet, it won't save her. Should I demonstrate how close we can get to her. Next transmission."

Steve froze as the footage revealed a sleeping Felicity. The lighting was extremely low. He could just make out her face from the street lights playing through the window. If she had registered why hadn't she moved back into the Avengers Tower? It had much better security and was home to more than one superhero in residence at any point in time. It was also the recharge station for the Iron Legion. She'd be well protected. The place actually looked familiar though. He'd seen this room before. It took him a moment to recall it. Then it hit him. Natasha and he had stayed there when they'd been on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D, it was Sam's townhouse. She was staying with Sam. Perhaps it was the only place she felt safe. Sam wasn't listed, and he also wasn't subject to the Registration Act but it was terrifying to see that none of that had made a difference in keeping her safe. These creatures had been in her room while she was sleeping. He wanted to rage and scream. He desperately wished there was some way he could warn her. Closing his eyes, he prayed fervently that their Creator would keep her safe.

"I will give you a few hours to think about it," she said quietly. "Perhaps you would like to watch a while longer."

Steve opened his eyes, his heart thundering behind his ribs. The footage wasn't a snap shot. It went on for hours. It was only when he saw Felicity get up that he realized it was merely a recording device, not someone actually standing over her. He wasn't sure if that eased his discomfort in the slightest. He had to find a way to free himself and get back to her. She needed to be warned. If she knew the danger she could better defend herself.

His captors watched on from behind their observation window and spoke in their native tongue.

"Our operative has not been able to get her alone. She is well accompanied. We only just learned her place of residence this week. Her address was not on any record. Our replica of her bedroom and using a morph for now perhaps might induce the progress we require. We need to know how many of their superhumans remain underground and what resistance we must prepare for. The Captain knows. Our Queen has authorized the use of whatever methods required. If we cannot obtain his wife, we will use the decoy to persuade him."

::: ::: :::

The knock at the door interrupted her washing up in the kitchen. "Just a minute." Felicity toweled her hands dry and went to answer the front door. She couldn't have been more surprised to discover who was on the other side. "Steve?"

He looked at her shyly, and held out a bunch of flowers. "I heard they were your favorites."

Felicity took the peonies he offered and stood to the side to let him in. "What are you doing here?"

His cheeks flushed pink. "I... I know I haven't made an effort to get to know you but I learned, from the others, that we... that I... you're my wife, Felicity. You are carrying my child and I realize that if I'm ever going to live a full life, not just one that the government wants for me, then I should start trying to get those memories back."

Felicity felt her heart racing. She tightened her hands around the bouquet and fiddled with the ribbon holding it all together. He followed her as she went to the kitchen to find a vase. While she filled it with water, she tried to calm the rapid racing of her heart. Why now? He'd been in therapy for months now. In the beginning he'd ignored her only listening to orders passed along by General Scudder's men. Later after seeing doctors she'd approved, he had started acknowledging her, even been polite, cordial. They'd made a passing acquaintance but it had never developed to anything more than that. She didn't even feel any interest from him, in her romantically that is. If anything, he seemed to watch Carol with a casual, yet significant lingering gaze. It hurt her, so she tried her best to make her visits to the Tower brief. Only going on days when she knew she could meet up with Natasha and Bruce or Bucky. In the early days of Steve's return, she had believed if she made herself available, present, that it may trigger memories. But after weeks of nothing, she had given up hope.

So to find him here now, it threw her off balance. She was afraid to hope, and doubt started to cloud her senses. "I... it's been so long. Where do we even begin? You are not the man, I married. The man I fell in love with, stood beside and fought for would never have let himself be turned into a propaganda front. Steve Rogers is a man of principle, integrity and stands for those who can not protect themselves."

Steve touched her hand where it rested on the table top between them. "Show me then, Felicity. Help me."

His touch which had once brought her comfort, felt foreign and cold to her now. She slipped her hand from under his gentle grasp and hugged herself, raising from her stool. "Perhaps we could start with a simple dinner. James visits on Friday nights. We could make it a group dinner. Just the four of us. Bucky is your oldest friend and Sam, well outside the team, he's known you and worked with you the longest."

He looked disappointed at her offer. "I was hoping I could take you out to dinner. Maybe see a movie?" he asked his face and his voice hopeful.

A loud rapping noise caught her attention and two faces she didn't expect to see framing her kitchen door window, had her beaming from ear to ear. She threw the door open and Thor returned her barrel hug and bestowed her with a fond grin.

"We come bearing gifts," her father said, doing his best to hide his hurt that he wasn't the first she had greeted.

Felicity pulled from Thor's arms and kissed Fandral's cheek and threaded her arm through his and suddenly it mattered little. Thor had gotten a hug, he'd gotten a kiss and his daughter's arm.

Thor gripped Steve's arm and thumped him on the back. "I see nothing can keep the Captain down. You were sorely missed, my friend. I am glad to find you in good health. Felicity, you sent no word to us that Steve Rogers is recovered and returned to you."

Felicity nervously tucked her escaping strands of hair behind her ears and chewed on her bottom lip before answering. "I... Well a lot has happened, and Hydra put Steve through a lot. He doesn't even remember me. You're probably throwing him for a loop," she said gesturing at Thor and her father's appearances.

"Actually, S.H.I.E.L.D has profiles for all of them. You're missing your usual group," he said with a nod at Fandral. His eyes narrowing at how closely Felicity stood next to the Asgardian.

"I came to visit my daughter," he said with an authroitive air. "That warrants no invitation. However for a man to forget his wife, I should say that requires a chaperone, to insure nothing untoward becomes of my only daughter. I gave no blessing and since you do not wear a wedding ring, or the air of a man I deem worthy of Felicity, I should have you know, I'll be staying. Until such a time as you prove yourself the man Thor speaks highly of, or my daughter deems you her beloved."

Felicity's jaw dropped and her face heated. "Fandral."

"Father, if you please. And it is my right as head of my house to make such a declaration." To Steve, he said, "Did you make your intentions known to anyone of note before you wed my daughter?"

"I have no memories from before," Steve protested.

"Then no such acts took place. If you do not remember the promises you made, then you are not my daughter's life bonded. Thor?"

Thor shook his head slowly, at a loss to argue against Fandral's arguments. "I'm sorry, Felicity. I was not present when you wed and as is custom, a family member or an offical of high rank must preside or witness the ceremony for it to be validated according to Asgardian law."

"But Kay married us," Felicity pointed out her inner distress showing through her tone. Steve might not remember but she hadn't forgotten and those memories were all she had to keep her going these days. No matter what Thor or her father said, she and Steve were married. "And Steve talked to him and my mother before he asked me."

Fandral frowned. "Kay is your mother's cousin. The discontented fellow, always scowling."

Felicity slapped her father's chest lightly. "Yes, he's always serious but he's not grumpy."

"Felicity, be that as it may. I wish to stay. For as long as you'll allow. Asgard is in no immediate danger and knowing that your husband is not who he once was concerns me. I wish only for your safety and happiness."

Felicity huffed a loud sigh. As irked as she was with their high handed approach to how things were between her and Steve. Or more so, how they weren't any longer, she couldn't argue that they didn't have her best interest at heart. Poor Steve, he was going to have to go about winning over her family all over again. He'd done it with little trouble last time. What could the harm be?

Steve stewed silently, cursing inwardly that his plans to lure Felicity away from her protectors had failed so spectacularly. Even his attempt to learn more about her and their past relationship, or their allies still in hiding had been foiled by a meddling artificially intelligent program of all things.

However today's trip hadn't been without its merits. He'd learned exactly who Felicity's father was and a new player on the game board, who was this mysterious Kay that they all seemed to know well, but he'd only just heard of today. All he could gather from their discussion was that he was related to Felicity's mother and that he'd presided over their wedding and his status was recognised both on Earth as an officer of law and on Asgard. Certainly curious. It was something he would note in his report to Command.

::: ::: :::

Jay pulled up outside the inconspicuous townhouse while noting the glaring large Asgardian symbol scorched into the road. He chanced a glance at Kay and startled at the glare he was wearing, it was hard enough to cut glass. He was eyeing a certain bike they were parked behind like he wanted to blast it into plasma.

"When it rains, it pours. Alien Mark Clean-up. Check in with the neighbors and give me five minutes inside."

Jay watched Kay pull out a slim case from the glove compartment that he'd never even seen him put in.

Kay snapped fingers. "Glasses." Jay scrambled to comply before he hesitated in relinquishing them.

"I thought we agreed no more Nueralyzing? I think my headaches are because of all the years of random microwaving you been doin'."

"Your headaches are from your poor hydration habits. And I'm not Neuralyzing you today. Unless you do something or see something you'll beg me to let you forget...Five minutes."

Barely through the door, Kay pressed the glasses into Felicity's hands and waited a second for her to put them on before he flashed everyone in the room. Once everyone else were stunned and in the Asgardians case, frozen and sparkling, Kay opened the case he'd been carrying and urged Felicity to put the head device on.

"Seeing is believing." Kay watched as Felicity looked up and he caught the moment she saw the true nature of the man/creature seated at her kitchen table. Watching her face, he couldn't help but agree with Oliver's caution. He should have found a way to tell her sooner. Sometimes his inexperience and lack of social skills became glaringly obvious. Jay was his only constant in both worlds, and even though the younger man was always upbeat, passionate about the job and a real cowboy in his attitude to everything, Jay was starting to show the strain of not having a life outside the job. "Your friend Oliver believes you're a better actress than I do. Honey, they can't know we're on to them but I also couldn't leave you, unprepared. Word on the wire says they'd love to get their hands on an Asgardian. They're breeding Super Skrulls to take on the Superhumans. Watch your back, okay."

Felicity numbly handed back the sunglasses and the mind thingy that had just blown her world apart but had suddenly made everything so clear. "Do you think he's still alive?" she said her voice barely more than a terrified whisper.

Kay gripped her shoulder and kissed her forehead quickly. He looked her in the eyes and offered her what hope he could. "You know he is. And as long as they think he's useful and that you buy this charade. He'll stay as safe as he can be at their hands."

Felicity trembled, turning to stare in fear at the creature she now knew was wearing her husband's face. "I would rather tear him apart right now and find Steve, than play their game," she said angrily.

Kay sighed wearily and loosened his hold on her. "If I had a way to make it happen, without raising red flags. Something in their DNA allows them to build an intolerance to the effects of the Nueralyzer. I've been investigating since we discovered their plans and we haven't located all their cells and we still don't know how many ships they have nearing our orbit. I've been building a team within MiB. I haven't been able to screen everyone yet. From what I've learned, the infiltration isn't at full scale, but there's no telling who they've replaced. They tried with me months ago. Glasses," he prompted. He flashed the imposter again and continued his conversation. "I brought your Dr. Strange, Queen and Mr. Diggle into the plan. We're pooling our Intel and our resources. We don't know the extent of the infiltration or their attack date but we know it's coming. Their first step was to take out all the big threats. I'm working to cloak our orbiting defense grid. It's my top priority. If they have warships out there we don't want them landing."

Felicity nodded, her whole body numb. "What do I do with him?"

"You told me he's playing amnesiac. Foster it. Treat him like he needs support but keep him at arm's length."

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm glad Fandral's decided to go overprotective father on me."

Kay glanced at the frozen Asgardian. "He'll live to impress me yet. Still won't say I like the man."

Felicity snorted. "Course not. You're just more alike than you think. First words out of his mouth today was if Steve ever asked for parental blessing for his offer of marriage." She rolled her eyes and folded her arms giving Kay a pointed look.

"I'll admit, he's growing on me," Kay deadpanned. "Be safe, honey. I have to go." Before heading for the door, he stopped at glared hard at Skrull Steve. "You never saw me today. You're actually second guessing what even brought you here in the first place. You don't know this woman and it could compromise your mission if she was ever to suspect your true intentions."

Kay stepped outside and turned his face to the sky. "Can't say I ever want to meet you. You ticked me off one two many times over the years but I will say thank you. Your timing is impeccable."

In Asgard, Heimdall gave one of Midgard's bravest mortal protectors a nod of respect.

Felicity waited for her guests to come out of their tranced state. When it was obvious Thor and Fandral were going to take longer, she muscled them into her bedroom and left them on her bed.

She was making tea and set a cup down in front of Steve when he blinked slowly and met her eyes.

"I guess I should be going. I have a mission briefing in an hour."

Felicity tried not to let her expression show how she didn't buy that lie. Bucky only just spoken of returning the suit yesterday and according to doctors reports, Steve still had two field performance reviews before they'd clear him for active status. Besides, earlier he had been in no great hurry to leave her alone. "That's fine. We can talk about dinner another time."

"Actually, I think you're right. I'm moving too fast. Maybe we can hang out in the Tower sometime. Perhaps after training you could stay and play some checkers with me."

Felicity forced her lips into a smile. Steve had always liked checkers but this Skrull was selling it with overkill. He wasn't the artist Steve was, he'd scratched his head at her gift and she knew for a fact he'd never touched it since he'd opened it, and the one time she'd caught a look at his breakfast, she swore never to ask him to cook. Dill pickles and strawberry yoghurt. Even her pregnancy cravings weren't that wild. She was screaming internally that she hadn't thought on all the clues before now. It wasn't as though they'd never seen shapeshifters or metas with cloning/ multiplying ability before.

"I'll see you around at the tower sometime then," she promised.

When he left, she sagged and closed her eyes in relief.

"Where did he go?" Fandral exclaimed, his disappointment obvious. "And how did we come to be in your room?"

Felicity cracked a small smile, wondering just what her father had planned for the Skrull. "He had work. Stay as long as you like by the way. I welcome the company. From a house crowded to the rafters for months to this place where I'm alone most of the day, it's too quiet."

::: ::: :::

 **The Peak, S.W.O.R.D. Cloaked Orbiting Space Station**

"Alien Space Ship to S.W.O.R.D command, this is Captain Steve Rogers, we have taken this vessel. We are being pursued by enemy attack ships, requesting cover fire and permission to enter Earth's airspace."

Phil immediately crossed the bridge to the communications station. "That's Captain Rogers' voice. I'd recognize it anywhere. Open a channel, and request Agent ID to confirm."

"Sir, we know that Captain Rogers hasn't been cleared for active duty yet, and he's at Avengers Tower in New York. Why would he be on that ship?"

"You're not paid to speculate, agent. Open a channel and relay my message." A firearm pressed into his back, caused Phil to put his hands up, he glanced over his shoulder to see an alien shift from the regular form of Agent Brand, his second-in-command.

"Delay that order, brother. Commander Coulson, S.W.O.R.D officers, surrender your weapons and step away from your stations. Now."

Phil watched as only half of his agents left their posts. The others remained seated. Behind him, the alien Brand, nodded at the weapons officer. "Take out that warship. He can not reach the planet. For our Queen and our people."

"For the Free Skrulls," came the united answer.

"Put them in the brig," the Skrull female commanded.

::: ::: :::

Steve studied the controls before him and tried to guess which of the alien symbols could mean communication. He was hoping this head device he had put on came with an open radio mic. "Command please respond. S.W.O.R.D Command please confirm, there are human prisoners aboard this ship, we have overpowered our captors and require immediate assistance. Please advise."

"Approaching Skrull Warship, your are in breech of Earth's orbit and you are not cleared for entry. If you halt your approach, we will defend your position. Prepare to be boarded for inspection."

Steve didn't recognize the voice. He'd expected to hear from Phil. "System warnings show were are being targetted. We can not hold our position."

Sue Storm, who they'd found in suspended animation was coming around slowly. Apparently she'd been held captive by this race before and following this experience those memories were coming back, along with the knowledge to understand and read the Skrull language. "They're preparing weapons. S.W.O.R.D have locked onto our position and we are still being pursued," she said breathlessly. She still couldn't stand on her own and a fellow captive S.H.I.E.L.D agent, he only knew by sight, was helping her to walk.

The decks below had been full of prisoners. As he'd escaped his holding room, Steve had freed anyone he'd come upon, along with Felicity. She was currently in the ship's engineering deck, trying to divert all the power they could spare to their shields while tried to shake their pursers.

Suddenly a firefight broke out behind them. The three fellow captives that had been standing guarding by the door were shot down as Felicity and a group of armed Skrulls entered the bridge.

"Step away from the ship controls," she said with a hard edge to her voice. "I didn't endure torture, for you to destroy years of preparation and sacrifice our people have suffered to find a new home."

Steve lifted his hands from the controls. Sue cast him a worried look, glancing between them. Sue had joined the Resistance late, only a month before he was shot but she knew them both. And from what she had said, about her abduction, she had only been taken recently. She said the Skrull way was to morph and mimic, to deceive and manipulate their test subjects. They wanted Earth for their own and knew after their first attempt at invasion that humans were stronger and more surprisingly resourceful and resilient than they anticipated. They retreated and tried a new strategy. A secret invasion. Even Sue noticed that Felicity wasn't acting like the Felicity they knew.

Before Steve could figure out a plan, someone took out the Skrull soldiers and Felicity from behind. He was startled to see a battered and furious looking Agent Morse holding a smoking alien weapon.

"I'd say haul ass, Rogers. Before more of these guys get wise that their prisoners have taken over the ship."

Even though the truth of their duplicity was staring lifelessly at him, he couldn't shake the chill that had entered his body since they'd brought her into his room only moments ago. She'd been frightened and disorientated. Her lip was bleeding and there were fresh bruises on her arms and her cheek. He'd assumed she'd given them a hell of a fight trying to capture and subdue her.

He'd given her a silent signal and with strength he didn't know he had, he broke the cuff restricting his ankle and hooked his leg around the officer nearest his table. It was over and they were running seconds later. He used the Skrull as a shield and picked his pocket for the control to release his other cuffs. Once he was free, he took out the other guards and fled with Felicity out of that room. They had split up after releasing more prisoners. She had taken a small group of captives with her to the engine level so that their captors wouldn't shut them down before they even had a chance to escape.

"Sue, are we still in control of the ship? Did she sabotage the engines," he asked following that train of thought.

"I wouldn't know what to look for, but I can tell you how to look." She indicated to the panel in front of him. "There."

Steve followed her instructions.

"She's prompted a fuel dump. The reserves are at 20 %. She also sent out a distress beacon and alerted all levels. There are fires on several decks."

"Can we stop it?" Sue was ahead of him and was already punching in commands. Steve cracked a smile. "I thought you didn't know what to do?"

Sue shrugged while leaning heavily against the panel. "Fast learner, also, married to a certified genius."

::: ::: :::

 **On the surface**

Across the globe, a mass signal went out. "Timetable has moved up. Initiate End Game.

Skrull Invisible Woman entered her husband's lab and shut down all safety protocols that kept the gate to the Negative Zone restricted to the wormhole's stabilizing arch. Slowly it began to expand, swallowing everything in it's path.

Skrull Lyla Michaels, climbed the stairs to the attic that led to the door to Earth. When she entered the basement of Kay's safehouse, she set a charges all over the floor. The timer set to two minutes.

Skrull Agent Morse opened her safe underneath her desk and armed a targeting device. The controls for six GBU-43 missles. Locking in coordinates, she timed the launch for ten minutes. She took her side-arm, her coat and her keys and left the office. Ten minutes would be enough time to clear the blast radius.

A Skrull operative within MI-6 went to the lowest level, just above the catacombs beneath Big Ben and used his security clearance to enter the science lab. Taking out the scientist on duty, he entered the restricted lab and armed the prototype bio-weapon. It was untested and unstable. Once activated it would not be disarmed. Any being with living tissue within the blast radius would soon be microwaved, leaving buildings untouched.

In Russia, a Skrull operative within Hydra activated two reverse engineered Stark Jericho Missiles, equipped with new long range propulsion. Their targets, NATO command and Israel's Mossad HQ.

On an island off the coast of Africa, a female Skrull with short black hair entered the engineering level of a large facility and armed a device that would cause the facility's own power source to overload. Frying everything within its destructive blast radius, which encompassed most of the inhabited part of the island.

::: ::: :::

Felicity was training with Natasha when her cellphone sung with a ringtone she hadn't heard in awhile. She bowed out of the fight, and picked up her phone.

"Phil, long time no speak."

"Felicity, we have a Code Black situation at S.W.O.R.D. And from the sounds of things, Steve might have just forced their hand. I was able to clone my phone before they took it and I don't have long before they'll probably trace this signal. We have a Skrull Invasion. Contact MiB, they'll know what protocols to inti..."

The call was cut short.

Felicity looked up at Natasha in alarm, who had overheard everything. "What do we do?"

"Call Kay. I'll get the team ready."

With harried fingers, Felicity made her call while she watched Natasha disappear from the room.

"Felicity, way ahead of you, honey. Intercepted a transmission from ten minutes ago..."

Felicity fell to the mat when she heard Steve's voice. It was as though she'd been waiting forever to hear him and only functioning, holding herself together all this time, just waiting for this moment. She blinked, her cheeks wet. She hadn't even realized she was crying. "So he's up there, without back up?" Phil wasn't in command of S.W.O.R.D they'd already been taken over.

"We're still in control of our orbiting defense. I can get the override codes. I can get him to input the frequency and it will allow the alien ship to pass through without tearing it apart. "

"But that doesn't stop S.W.O.R.D from shooting him out of the sky."

"Diggle is on that. He's heading there now to provide our people with support."

"What do you want me to do?" she said reminding herself to keep breathing, in and out. Was the room moving, it felt like it was spinning.

"We're tracking their approach. Their angle isn't good for re-entry, either they've suffered engine damage or they haven't got enough fuel make a slow trajectory. They're going to hit hard and somewhere over Nevada. Knowing your guy, he'll try to aim for the least populated area."

"I'll scramble a jet. Natasha can fly us. Any chance you can keep the skies clear?"

"No promises darlin' but I'll do my best."

::: ::: :::

What she didn't expect to find was a face-off between Natasha and Carol going on in the team briefing room.

An explosion momentarily rocked the tower. Felicity looked out the windows to see a ball of smoke and fire erupt from Lower Manhattan. The safe house. She picked up her phone, but even before the exchange could tell her, she knew that there would be no answer. She hadn't even thought to warn them. But Dig knew, why hadn't he told anyone, prepared some kind of contingency. Felicity prayed that Lyla and Sara were safe. That somehow maybe Dr. Strange had shielded everyone from the blast. She had no idea if the explosion was on this end of the portal or had come through from the other side. The other side! Kay knew how to reach that dimension.

She dialled his number waiting for it to connect when another explosion rocked the tower. This time she watched in horror as a small mushroom plume filled the sky over midtown. A sinking feeling in her stomach told her she knew its origin. Even as the call continued to ring, she mentally riled against the thought that Kay might have been at HQ when it had been blown off the map.

"We're under attack," Carol yelled. "Maria hailed an SOS from S.H.I.E.L.D, the hellicarrier is about to fall out of the sky and someone just opened a growing wormhole where the top of the Baxter Building used to be and you want us to chase down some random lead about an alien invasion?"

Natasha looked furious, and Bruce was standing at her shoulder, ready to back her up if Carol decided to get heavy handed.

"I can't get Kay," Felicity interjected, "I know that the safe house was hit and we have got a rogue alien ship headed for Nevada. Tasha, I need you to fly us out there."

Steve looked between them all, his face impassive. "I say we stay here and defend New York. Two bombs have already gone off, who knows how many more."

"JARVIS, access the G.I.D.I.O.N matrix, what does our intel say about our skies," Felicity asked.

"Unidentified vessels approaching Earth's orbit. The closest of them entering at a steep decent. Probable destination, 150 miles just north of Dixie Valley, Nevada."

"That ship, according to my source is full of human captives. We need to intercept and provide support, before the enemy can find them first. I'm not an Avenger, Carol. I don't answer to you. I also don't need permission to fly out of here. I have my own set of wings for that."

Carol bristled, and folded her arms. "JARVIS lock down the stairwell to the roof and shutdown lift access."

Felicity walked out to the balcony. And whistled as loud as she could. Within a few minutes, she heard a familiar beat of wings. She smiled in surprise to see her father sitting on top of her Pegasus.

"She certainly couldn't get herself out of that garage you hid her in. Where are we going?"

Felicity got on behind him and held on. "To get my armor. Tasha, I texted you the coordinates, and a message for you to hear. You know where I'm going to be."

Natasha checked her phone and listened, her heart skipping a beat when she heard Steve's voice. She looked up to see the Captain wearing a grim expression. His fists curled.

"It's obviously a trap. And she's gone charging off headlong to it. I may not remember my past but she is my wife and she's carrying my child. I'm going after her."

"Are you up for it?" Natasha asked Bruce.

"You know how I feel about being in the field, but I'm not letting our girl head into this alone. Even with her flying horse and that irritatingly charming Asgardian for back up."

Carol threw up her hands. "Avengers Assemble. We're providing Director Hill with immediate air support. Simon, you're flying the jet. Tony? Where the hell did Tony get to? Barnes, are you with us?"

"Sorry, Carol. I go where Steve goes."

Carol snorted in obvious irritation. "You two might as well be attached at the hip."

::: ::: :::

Felicity adjusted her armor. This was only the second time she'd worn it and she was thanking it's magical design that it seemed to have expanded to accommodate her pregnancy assets. It wasn't tight or uncomfortable. Just strange. She wasn't used to wearing metal. Especially alien metal.

"Would it fall on deaf ears for me to appeal to you, to stay clear until we can determine the danger?" Fandral asked.

Felicity shook her head. "We stay out of sight and provide support when it hits. We don't make a move unless we see trouble."

"Sensible plan." Fandral ducked low against Saefil, the silvery haired Pegasus cutting through the clouds at a tremendous pace. With her natural speed and gifted strength, they made a flight that would normally take hours, in half that.

The central Nevada area was desolate and hot, with very little in the way of shelter but they managed to find an outcropping with a clear view of the plain just beyond the canyons.

It was another hour before they could see a sky battle taking place overhead. Smaller crafts targetted the larger one, with a similarly large craft in pursuit. Steadily closing the distance behind. A blast seemed to come out of nowhere and hit the side of the fast falling ship. Already entering Earth's atmosphere too fast, the ship began to come apart.

Fighter jets out of Nevada Air Base were coming up to engage and Felicity knew that it would be over before they could land. Those captives would never made it home. Steve wouldn't make it.

"We have to run interference. The hull integrity is compromised and one more big hit and it's over."

"I'll try to keep the fighters off them. Do you think you can give us extra cover?"

Felicity goggled at him. "With what? I wish I could manipulate the weather like Storm but I can't."

Fandral gave her a secret smile and nodded to her sword. "Dragonfang is Mojlnir's twin, in sword form. Reach toward the sky and call on the elements. Thor's King's gift to you, my daughter. You are worthy of spirit. Protect your people."

Her mouth still ajar, she stared after him as he took to the sky on her magnificent horse. She looked at the inconspicuous but ornately crafted sword at her hip. Unsheathing the blade, she held it aloft, watching as the late afternoon sun played off the pristine surface. "Dragonfang, it's up to us," she whispered. "Aid my father, give him cover from our enemies. Let our people reach the ground alive."

Above her grey clouds began to gather and swirl in the sky behind the approaching warship. Thunder rolled and boomed and lighting flashed. One bolt took out an alien attack ship and Felicity smiled. She was beginning to understand why Thor loved his Hammer so much. The power and it's force was an inspiring and heady thing.

Fandral dispatched the jets, clipping wing flaps and turbines, letting their operators eject. The cover Felicity had provided had kept the enemy ships at bay and he watched as the warship crash landed below, before making his own descent.

::: ::: :::

Oliver had an arrow nocked and drawn before Hope could draw her side arm.

"So you knew, even before you gave me the device."

"Not for sure," he said carefully. "We screen everyone who comes here, but I didn't screen you or Scott because you guys helped me build this place. You were there from the start. Or were you? When did you have her replaced?"

"It doesn't matter. You have to let me go. This place is going up. You can go with it, or you can leave too."

"You're not going anywhere. Whatever you've done, disarm it."

"What's going on?" Scott interjected, seeing Oliver aiming his bow at Hope.

Hope used the distraction to get her gun up. "What's faster. A bullet or an arrow?" She turned the gun on Scott and fired. All those months of having to fake being in love with him, pushing her to target him first.

Scott activated his suit and the bullet harmlessly sailed through displaced air where he'd once been standing.

Oliver let his arrow fly and it pierced the imposter's shoulder. "Where is Hope van Dyne?"

"For the kingdom. For our people." With a single tear slipping out of the corner of her eye, she morphed to her natural form and turned the gun on herself.

No one heard Scott scream in his miniaturized form, but he dropped to his knees as her body hit the ground. He returned to full size and lifted the face plate. It was surreal what had just played out in front of him. "This can't be real." He looked up at Oliver, his eyes red and haunted. "Who is she?"

"She's planted a bomb somewhere on the island. I've been watching her since I lured her with the information about a secret alien invasion and a fake alien detection device."

"There's more of them here? You didn't think to tell me? And where's the real Hope or does she not exist."

"I choose to believe she's out there, somewhere. I don't know how long or when but they replaced her. I suspected she was one of them when her first instinct was to take the device apart to study it."

"How much time do you think we have?"

"Not enough. We've got to get everyone off the island."

Scott sighed. "I knew you were going to say that."

Even using the evacuation siren, and everyone running for the beach the furthest point from the compound, Oliver knew after doing a head count following the massive explosion that shook the ground and filled the sky with white light, that not everyone had made it. And without the device that had been damaged during their speedy escape through the dense forest, he had no way of knowing if they were still among the enemy.

::: ::: :::

The hard impact obliterated what was left of the protective force field shields that they'd diverted to the nose of the ship once the hull had been breached. They had most of their people secured in the holding cells in the middle of the ship. They were the most fortified and would survive the impact with the least amount of damage. The small team that remained with him in the cockpit, Sue, Ted Burke, a high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D agent and Morse, who Steve still wasn't entirely sure he could trust not to try and arrest him the second they landed took cover under the command panel seconds before they hit.

Glass, metal and debris was everywhere. Smoke made it hard to see and breathe. He knew for the fading glittering blue dome that Sue had shielded them herself, seconds before impact. Loud voices filled the air.

He had seconds to find something to get behind before energy blasts boomed all around them.

Felicity had seen the S.H.I.E.L.D jets approaching from a distance, but hadn't anticipated a hive-like offensive. Iron Legion sentinels opened fire and split what was left of the hull like tin foil.

Calling the lightening again, she struck down as many of them as she could manage. With her free hand, she called Tony on her sat. phone. "Call them off now!" she screamed at him.

"Not deaf, and I can't. My armor's been compromised. I'm not in control."

"Damn it, Tony. Can you get out of your suit? I don't want to have to flash-fry you!"

"No can do, kiddo. What part of not in-control, didn't compute? Ahhh...damn it...I've been cut off from JARVIS. I'm in the dark."

"Then how I'm talking to you?"

"I don't know, glitch?"

Felicity brightened. "Glitch. More like oversight. They needed an open channel to task the suit and the Legion. It's part of whatever virus they've uploaded into the system." She set her phone on the ground on loud speaker and got out her tablet. After she found the signal, it took less than a minute to hack it, and reboot Tony's system. You'll probably hit the ground before JARVIS has you back in control but it couldn't be helped. Sorry."

"Don't sound so happy about it."

Felicity smirked a little, knowing he wouldn't see her. "Don't make me regret helping you. Keep those aliens away from my husband."

"Yes, ma'am." There was a loud thunk and clanging noise and a groan from Tony. "And ow..."

Felicity cut the call and tucked her tablet and phone away. An inhuman roar had her scrambling up from her knees and picking up her sword. She scanned the plain, searching for the sound. Her heart pounding in her chest, she had a feeling she knew that sound. It was the Hulk.

It only took a second to see that there was something wrong with the Hulk. He was smashing through obstacles indiscriminately. Aliens, the Avengers team that operated out of Vegas and the people pouring out of the ship were all targets.

Her father was circling low, trying to shepherd Hulk's rampage away from the survivors of the crash. Now that her storm had cleared, the large ship was coming in to land and attack ships were swooping down and firing on them.

Seems Tony was online again, because he had the Legion switch targets and go after the attack ships.

In the middle of the battlefield, fighting Captain America of all people, she saw Steve. He was shaggy, had a full beard and looked pale and undernourished, but he was alive. There would be no reasoning with the Army troops on approach or the New Avengers. All they saw was the enraged Hulk, and supposed alien invaders.

Sue Storm was trying to shield as many around her as she could but it looked like she was tiring, and not at full strength to begin with.

S.H.I.E.L.D agents seemed to be fighting each other and from where she stood, it even looked like known superhumans were turning on each other. In that moment, she decided, the only thing she cared about was getting her friends off this battlefield.

She whistled for Saefil. After she mounted behind him and quickly steered them to where Steve was fighting, she could hear her father's grunt of disapproval but he merely threw up his hands, when she disembarked right above them. In her fall, she attacked the Skrull impersonating her husband with a hard kick to the head before she unsheathed her sword again.

Before she could even say a word to Steve, she was tackled to the side. Her shoulder slammed against the ship's hull and she groaned but it didn't stop her from dodging the metal fist coming towards her head.

"Bucky," she screamed. From the expression of murder in his eyes and the mask covering the lower half of his face, she knew he was beyond her pleas.

Skrull Cap sat up and faced off against Steve, who'd collected the iconic shield while the man/thing wearing his face and his uniform was down. "Nanobot mind control. He can't hear you."

Felicity swallowed hard, as the smoke behind them cleared and she saw Natasha face down in the dirt. The S.H.I.E.L.D jet they must have flown in was a short distance away, engulfed in flames, the cockpit window smashed and a huge hole punched in the side. A Hulk-sized hole.

Felicity used her shield to deflect another punch from Bucky. She could call the lightening. It would fry the nanobots but it would more than likely kill him too. Another Hulk roar gave her an idea. It was a long shot, but it was the only card she could play.

Her sword to the sky, while scrambling clear of Bucky's double punch. Felicity aimed the lightening for the Hulk.

It struck him in the head and traveled the length of his body. He turned to her in rage and his red eyes locked on his target even as the power of the lightening brought him to his knees.

Fandral alighted from Saefil and engaged Barnes before he could attack his daughter's exposed back. But no one could stop the Hulk when he ran at Felicity.

She thought she prepared herself for the impact, but who could really brace against the road train coming at you at more than 80 miles an hour.

Felicity felt the earth disappear from beneath her feet and the wind whip through her hair. She pressed her face close to his twitching, pounding. thick chest and dropped her weapons. Even as they soared higher into the sky from his jump, she threaded her hands into his hair and whispered his lullaby against the sweat and dirt soaked skin of his throat. She felt the air shift and knew they were falling again, the ground was coming up fast, and the giant hand he had around her tightened. He was preparing to smash. She closed her eyes and didn't stop humming against his skin.

The Skrull swept Steve's legs out from under him. He'd been momentarily distracted by Felicity's desperately insane plan. And his heart had stopped when Hulk grabbed her.

Natasha was coming to, the fighting edging closer to her position. She had a bleeding head wound and Steve could tell from her dazed expression that she had a concussion.

The Skrull who had finally revealed himself under the half mask, stood over him smugly. He had a firearm aimed at Steve's head. The shield had been kicked clear out of their reach in their last skirmish. "I'll enjoy finally putting down the great Steve Rogers. It was sickening trying to live up to their memories of you. No man is that adored. Look at you, fallible, weak, human. She was a fool to believe in you."

A glint of metal caught his eye between the clouds of dust and smoke. Felicity's sword. He had seen her summon the lightening with it. If it was like Thor's Hammer, would he even be able to wield it? What other option did he have. Faster than he'd ever moved in his life, he rolled clear of the Skrull's aim and pulled at the hilt of her sword, before thrusting it back through the chest of the Skrull behind him. Even as the creature fell with a gurgling breath, he still couldn't believe his wild attempt had proven successful.

Steve pulled the sword free and staggered over to Natasha. "Widow Bites. I need you to hit Bucky with as many as you think he can survive. He's been infected with nano-tech."

Natasha nodded in understanding. "Explains the shit that went down on the way here." After hearing the recording Felicity left for her, and seeing the determination on her friend's face, it had caused her to have her own doubts about the man they'd found on ice. She had pulled Bruce aside before they climbed into Tony's private elevator, that lead to the roof top. She told him to keep an eye on Rogers while she was flying. Obviously her warning hadn't been enough. "If you didn't kill that scum, I was going to tear him apart myself. No one messes with my family." She got to her feet on shakily legs and took a knee to steady her aim. Letting out a long exhale, she waited for an opening and threw four Widow Bites at Bucky's exposed neck.

The Winter Soldier shook under the electro-shock and collapsed, only narrowly avoiding getting decapitated by Fandral. Steve had to yell at the Asgardian to stop his next attack which would have been another death blow.

"I need to go after the Hulk," he said to Felicity's father. "The creature you were flying before. Will it know how to find her."

Fandral nodded. "She does."

Natasha put a hand on Steve's arm. "Let me go with you. If he's still in rage, I might be the only one to get through to him."

At Fandral's call, Saefil landed gracefully next to them. She folded one wing to allow Steve to help Natasha up before climbing on behind her. "Bucky was being mind controlled before. He should be free now."

::: ::: :::

They found the Hulk a long distance away, he was sitting the waters edge of Ruby Lake. He was very still but breathing hard. The night chill was creeping in over the water and his warm breath was leaving him in great clouds of steam.

"Hulk," Natasha said softly.

He turned at the sound of her voice and Steve startled at the expression on his face. He never thought the Hulk could ever look like that. Tormented and broken. And there were tear tracks in the dirt on cheeks.

Natasha trembled where she sat before him. He didn't have to see her face to know what she was thinking, he was thinking the same. Where was Felicity and why hadn't Bruce shifted back if the Hulk was no longer in a rage or under mind control. Steve had one answer, but he didn't want to even consider it. Hulk was afraid. Bruce was afraid. And to Steve, that only meant one thing. Something had gone terribly wrong.

"Where is Felicity?" He dismounted even before the Pegasus touched down. The Hulk growled at him teeth bared, but actually flinched and shifted away, when he came closer. Steve realized he was still carrying the bloodied sword and set it down. He put his hands up and he felt Natasha next to him.

"No one is here to hurt you. And we know it's not your fault. That Skrull, the bad Cap, he did something to you and Barnes. Felicity didn't want to hurt you. But she had to get rid of the mind control," Natasha said gently, dropping her weapons as she drew closer. She kept her palms open and her arms out stretched. "Let us help you. We just want to know what happened."

The Hulk shivered, and in moments Bruce sat in front of them cradling a limp body with a tangled mop of blonde hair in his arms. "I felt her and he remembered, he heard her but we were too high. We broke the fall but... she's... I couldn't hear her breathing and I couldn't sense a heart beat anymore..." Tears fell in growing trails down his face.

Steve fell to his knees and inched closer, drawing Felicity out of Bruce's arms and setting her on the pebbled embankment. He pressed his fingers to her neck and searched for a pulse but couldn't find one. Tearing off the black t-shirt, he'd been able to find after escaping his captors, he bunched it under her head. Natasha was already across from him, trying to loosen Felicity's armor. It was as he lifted it away that he noticed her rounded belly. His hand shook as it hovered over her stomach. He touched it hesitantly, his face twisting with pain as a riot of thoughts hit him at once. Many taking him back to the taunting threats his captors had made about Felicity during the long weeks of his interrogation under their machinations. What had been real and what had been their morph and her illusion? His heart and his head refused to accept the possibility that he could have failed her. Or as a darker part of his weaker self whispered, that she'd been fooled by the fake. But how could he blame her, when he had fallen prey to their schemes himself? His gut twisted and he felt sick. None of that mattered. She wasn't breathing. He needed her to live. Whatever the future held, they would face it together. He just needed her to live.

Natasha met his eyes unflinchingly, knowing exactly what that flash of fear in his eyes had meant. But it was Bruce who banished those thoughts from his mind. "We found out she was pregnant the day you were shot. She fainted at MiB. It's your baby, Steve. That Morph never touched her."

He buried his face against Felicity's throat then, hating himself for ever doubting that she could be fooled or betray him, even unconsciously. He kissed her forehead and held his cheek close to her lips waiting for her breath. When none came, he tilted her head back. He pinched her nose and breathed for her. Then he started compressions. He counted out loud and the longer it took without any sign from his beloved, the slower he felt his heart beat in his own chest. Hot tears splashed on his palms as he pressed down on the soft cotton of her bellowing blouse. He ignored them, even though they blurred his vision and continued.

"Steve, I'm sorry," Bruce croaked brokenly.

He couldn't deal with Bruce's guilt, so he didn't look at him. He just kept up the breathing and compressions. It was finally Natasha who intervened. He looked up when she put her hand on his wrist. There was strength in her grip and he met her eyes, they were swimming with tears. It was the only time he'd ever seen her show weakness and genuine compassion. "Please stop."

Steve put his head on Felicity's chest and let out everything he'd kept bottled for months. He hadn't let his pain or helplessness, or his doubts show in front of his captors but now, with the body of his wife and his unborn child at his knees, he couldn't hold back anymore. The cry of anguish that escaped his chest travelled across the lake and echoed through the trees chasing all the birds away and causing Saefil to whinny in nervous protest.

He heard a gasp, that sounded like Natasha and felt gentle fingers card through the long hair at his neck. He could never forget her touch and his heart tightened in his chest. He couldn't breathe.

"I love you, but right now, you're kinda heavy and I'm bruised all over," she said with a soft teasing humor in her voice.

Steve cupped her face and kissed her long and hard. She smiled against his lips and held his head with one hand firmly in his hair. Realizing he was crowding her and she was injured he broke away with great reluctance and tenderly, smoothed her tousled hair from her cheeks. "I've been dead inside, only clinging to the hope that I would have you in my arms again. Never do anything like that again. I'm begging you."

Felicity looked at him sadly and brushed the tear stains from his cheek. "I can't promise to not fight for my friends. But I promise to always put our family first. It was stupid to risk our baby. In that moment I only thought of how many people the Hulk could kill and how Bruce wouldn't be able to forgive himself when it wasn't his fault. Oh," she exclaimed, as she gingerly pushed herself into a seated position.

Bruce immediately supported her shoulders, flinching slightly when Steve made the same motion and quickly relinquished his hold. He touched Felicity's arm instead. "Is it the baby? What is it? Where's the pain?"

Felicity winced and wrinkled her noise. Where didn't she hurt? But she knew right now, reminding Steve of how close she'd come to death was not conducive to everyone's emotional well being. She looked at Steve to explain Bruce's unexpected fretting. "He's been my OBGYN." At Steve's deepening frown, Felicity patted his chest in a placating gesture. "Just normal doctoring, not what you're thinking. Not exactly. Oh, I felt it again." Her eyes widened and she grabbed Steve's hand. She looked at her bump and smiled excitedly. "Do it again, baby. Now I know that's you and not gas, say hi to your Daddy. Come on," she urged.

Steve didn't know what to feel, or what to expect but the nervous excited tension that held him absolutely immobile seemed like a prerequisite as he watched the expectant expressions on all their faces. Then he felt it, a slight, barely noticeable brush that rippled under Felicity's shirt beneath his palm. The feeling of awe that washed over him, caused him to blink at his wife with wide-eyed shock. There was life in there. Something they'd created together. He'd wished, prayed and hoped to just come home to her. This was something he'd not expected or even dreamed about but as his heart took it's first beat after feeling their child, he knew that this was everything he wanted.

He was home. She was still his. And proof of their love was right under their joined hands.


	17. Aftermath

**Summary:** Steve and Felicity are finally reunited and spend time with family and friends. Also, Bucky meets his match.

::: ::: :::

 **In Washingon D.C., Sen. Chambers, Secretary of Defense, addresses Congress.**

"Mr. President, it has been the conclusion of the Senate Committee for Homeland Security that the Law requiring the registration of Superhumans was presented and then enforced by conspirators in the recent invasion of the alien race known as the Skrulls.

"The World Security Council, oversight for S.H.I.E.L.D, and several other of our intelligence agencies have provided documentation, footage and first-hand accounts as supporting proof, including individuals who have been captured and detained following the large scale invasion attacks on New York, Los Angeles, Houston, TX and in the Nevada desert region. What we were only recently made aware of was that their secret invasion took place more than a year ago and had far reaching effects which we plan to reveal today."

The Senate Auditorium started to fill with gas and House members were up on their feet hoping to flee only to find the doors barred by uniformed S.H.I.E.L.D agents and costumed heroes, including Iron Man, War Machine, Wolverine, Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel and Black Widow.

"Mr. Stark, Col. Rhodes, I hope you have an explanation for this?" President Ellis demanded. His security team were trying to hustle him to safety from what they perceived to be a biological terror attack only to find the way blocked by Iron Legion sentinels.

Tony lifted his visor. "Absolutely. We're pretty sure you're in the clear since we didn't find the real you in any of the holding cells on that alien space ship but these things can morph into anyone and there's only one way to know for sure. It'll happen in about four, three, two, one-"

Several shrieks of terror told Tony that the drug they'd synthesized to interrupt the Skrulls' ability to morph - using their own genetic research found in their archives that had survived the crash - was revealing the infiltrators. As they had expected, outed Skrull operatives were taking hostages. One particularly brazen one grabbed the President. His uniform tag read, General Scudder. Tony wasn't surprised but Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel was, and her hands lit up in warning while her expression hardened behind her mask.

"Nobody move, clear a path or your President dies. Now. Ah-" his demands were cut short when it looked like an invisible kick to the head knocked him off his feet and rendered him unconscious.

Other Skrulls, tackled down by neighboring Senators were quickly assisted by S.H.I.E.L.D agents. Scott Lang in his Ant-Man gear returned to human-size and offered a hand up to the President while a few of his remaining human Secret Service officers restrained Skrulls that had been a part of his protective detail.

"When they went through all the prisoners on board those ships that landed in Nevada, the call was made that only a mass public address would capture the most dangerous conspirators," Col. Rhodes explained.

"And where is Captain America in all this?" Senator Wenham asked, his voice betraying his suspicion over the man's absence yet again following another major attack on the government and its protective bodies.

"Which one?" Natasha stated calmly. "The one who was publicly shot by a S.H.I.E.L.D agent in April, then replace by a Skrull and held prisoner up until two weeks ago. Or the Skrull who's been working closely with your man Scudder over there and toeing the line like a good little soldier while secretly helping infiltrating every level of defense this country has? I know which Cap I prefer."

"It's been said before but it bears repeating, you have a mouth on you that needs..."

"I wouldn't finish that sentence," came a low warning growl.

"Dr. Banner," the Senator choked in greeting, swallowing the rest of his verbal tirade. He was terrified of the green sparking in the scientist's irises.

The doors opened, and Steve walked in, wearing his U.S. Army dress issue, Captain's uniform, supporting an equally formally dressed but obviously pained General Scudder, who was also using a distinguished cane to aid his mobility.

"Mr. President," the man greeted with a respectful nod. "If you want to place blame anywhere for the rouse today, you can lay it at my feet."

"With respect, sir. It was a collaborative decision," Steve interjected.

"Captain Rogers, I'm disappointed not to see you in your uniform," the President said.

Steve nodded and took a breath before answering. "Mr. President, that uniform belongs to the people. And I don't believe the people want me to represent them. Haven't for awhile. I was just an ordinary recruit before I took the serum. I wanted to serve my country, and today I will continue to do so. Until someone higher up decides otherwise, I'm still an officer in the U.S. Army but nothing more."

The President nodded, the frown telling them that while he trying to understand Steve's position, he wasn't happy with it. "How far did this go? Is it over?" he asked instead.

Scudder shook his head. "The Committee is working with a covert group to unmask all the conspirators but we're still not sure how fair reaching their infiltration goes. The ship carried over three hundred prisoners but we suspect many people were merely killed and replaced rather than being kept imprisoned. It seems only those who had valuable information or possessed superhuman abilities were kept alive."

::: ::: :::

 **Previously**

As Tony's sentinels focused their attention of securing the downed ship. Fandral, the Winter Soldier, Sue Storm, Bobbi Morse, a.k.a Mockingbird and the Vegas S.H.I.E.L.D team, along with many of the freed captives they were finally able to overcome the Skrull invaders. Those still standing surrendered when they saw the Nevada Army Base tanks and humvees roll in. The ship that had been pursuing Steve had broken off when Felicity had started taking their fighters out of the sky and pulled out of Earth's atmosphere.

When the Hulk returned with Natasha on his back, following a Pegasus, it was only a warning crackling of thunder that stayed General Ross' order to target the Hulk.

Felicity got down, supported by Steve and later flanked by Bucky, who she smiled at encouragingly, before turning her eyes on the stone-faced military man. "The Hulk is under our protection. Tell your men to stand down."

Lt. General Ross was more than a foot taller than her and armed to the teeth with a variety of weapons strapped to his person not counting the two officers at his side, carrying P-90s but she wouldn't be deterred. Even though it had hurt to lift her arms, she'd put her armor back on and upon their return she'd called the thunder when she'd seen the tanks redirect their aim as they approached.

"Thaddeus, I think there's been enough blood spilled on the sand today," a voice spoke up from behind them.

Ross visibly startled to see his superior, weak and wounded, supported by The Iron Patriot approach the group. "You're.. how is this possible? I just met with you in Washington yesterday."

"Shapeshifters. They have their damn ugly muscle, the powerhouse enforcers which some of our people fought today, and they have their infiltrators, the morphs," he said with a nod at the fallen Skrull wearing Captain America's uniform. "We need to keep this under wraps at least until I speak to our covert team. This invasion of theirs has been in the works a lot longer than you think."

Ross nodded gravely. "You have a black site?"

Scudder nodded to a nearby S.H.I.E.L.D agent. "Radio Command. If you can get Director Hill on the wire, give her to me. " To General Ross and the others assembled, he said, "We need to keep the morph intel under wraps until we can get a plan together. Our cell have been operating out of Area 15. The bodies and these ships need to be moved ASAP."

Tony nodded. "Not a problem. Coordinates?"

General Scudder shook his head. "Rather not say. Just follow the Humvee."

Rhodey wrinkled his nose at the order. He thought he'd left his covert days behind him years ago. He'd never been a fan of the cloak and dagger stuff.

They used the undamaged S.H.I.E.L.D jet and two Chinook helicopters to lift the remains of the warship. Tony ordered the Sentinels to collect the wreckage of the downed attack crafts in cargo nets and follow the convoy.

Felicity rode Saefil with Steve and followed the aircrafts to an area that looked completely desolate. The large parameter fence stretched on as far as she could see and from the signposts, it said warned off trespassing specifying weapons testing. She kept a sharp eye out, wondering if at any moment, some random missile was going to launch.

After the leading Humvee cleared the lone guard station, they kept on travelling on until they came to a stop at what looked like a dead end. A sheer mountain face. Slowly the rock face split revealing a space large enough to fit a Boeing-747 through.

When they landed, Felicity was surprised to see a familiar face waiting for them in the enormous hangar space beneath the mountain.

"I'm not cut out for this double agent, triple agent stuff," Sam said tiredly. He gave Felicity a bright smile and hugged her. "Why can I never keep you out of trouble?"

"Because I'm never one to be left behind. This certainly explains why I see so little of you. How long as he had you playing spook?" she said with a nod of greeting to the reliably unreadable Nick Fury.

"Too long," he rebutted. Sam took in his shaggy, worn looking friend. Even in his sorry state, there was no mistaking the familiarity of his stubborn determined posture and the deep grooved furrow between his brows. Steve Rogers, world class worry wort. "Man, you have no idea how it feels to see you kickin'," Sam said as he embraced his long absent friend.

Steve returned Sam's brotherly embrace and held on to his shoulder when they parted. "Thank you for looking after her for me," his said his voice gruff.

Sam shuffled uncomfortably and his expression fell. "I could have done a better job. I had this feeling something was off about him, but it wasn't till this past week that we knew for certain, when our source came through with tech that allowed us to see through the facade. They change on a cellular level, it's what made everything damn near impossible. Their blood, tissue, perfect DNA match, their scans all came up clear. And for some of them, like Agent Morse, they had all the right recall; operational information, codes, procedure, personnel history. And their behavioral patterns didn't give anything away."

"Except for Captain Amnesiac. My coming out must have made them nervous. Didn't anyone think to check dental records?" Felicity snarked, she felt Steve tense at her side at her comment over his imposter and inched closer to him in a show of reassurance. The serum had fixed all Steve's physical and genetic defects that it wouldn't have made revealed any discrepancies in his records, but everyone else would have had some work done, a history of impacted wisdom teeth for instance.

Fury snorted, overhearing her comment. "I knew we were missing an outside perspective somewhere. Dental records are only consulted in a postmortem forensic exam if other identifying processes are inconclusive. No one in our operation thought to run that check."

"Just who exactly was on your team?" Steve asked.

Fury put his hands in his coat and nodded his one good eye at Felicity. "For awhile, there was no operation until the General reached out to me when our investigation into Hydra's infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D and our government revealed some interesting anomalies. That put me in touch with your new in-law. He's been the one who made this an operation. Without him, there would have been a great many more tragedies today."

"Is Kay alive?" Felicity asked both fearful and hopeful. In her stress over Steve, she hadn't thought to try to contact him again.

"He was headed to MiB HQ when the bomb the Skrull masquerading as O planted, went off. Kay and his partner were outside the building and their car took the brunt of the explosion. Apparently they build those like tanks. He stayed in New York and called in off duty agents and Earth's allies as first responders when the other ship descended into our atmosphere. Captain Marvel's Avengers had their hands full trying to get Skrulls off my Helicarrier."

"Speaking of, Carol's going to have my ass, over not being in New York but Fury had me in Virginia hacking Skrull Morse's football for five warheads targeting all the S.H.I.E.L.D bases in the U.S. Only managed to disarm them with seconds left on the clock, considering one was headed right for my head, it didn't help my concentration. That and computers have never been my strong suit."

"We averted a large scale biological attack in London. Israel vaporized the modified Jericho missile targeting Tel Aviv while it was still over the water. And S.H.E, Europe's division of S.H.I.E.L.D had their operatives respond to the threat to NATO. We believe the immediate threat is over, but we have yet to process all the intel recovered from the warship, and debrief everyone who's been in Skrull captivity." Nick gave them all a grave look. "Until we've screened everyone, no one's leaving this base. That includes everyone involved in the battle royal that went down in the desert. Am I going to have any problems?" he asked, eyeing the Hulk and Fandral specifically.

Felicity watched her father give Fury a cheery grin and a casual shrug, while Hulk just growled, not taking his attention off General Ross and his men.

"Can I suggest we debrief Agent Romanoff and the Hulk first," Steve inquired of his former boss. "I think everyone might breathe a little easier."

::: ::: :::

 **Screening Room 2, Area 15, Black Site**

Steve and Felicity refused to separate. They had been apart for months. They weren't going to part for anyone. Especially over something as tedious and redundant as a debrief. No matter how confrontational, personal, detailed or traumatic things might get, they both agreed that they were much better off dealing with it directly and together.

Nick stood on the other side of the room and Logan sat at the table across from them. He reeked of cigar smoke and even a faint trace of whiskey. Steve grit his teeth. He knew the man was practically incapable of getting drunk, his metabolism burning through the alcohol almost as fast as the serum metabolised drugs in his bloodstream but there was such a thing as professional pride and etiquette. You just didn't drink on the job. And impromptu or not, they were all on the clock until this mission was over.

"Well ain't you two sweet. Might as well hold hands on the table. That way things won't get kinky in here."

"You haven't changed a bit, Logan. You were a stogie addicted, ill-mannered brute in my day and you still are. And they let you look after children," Steve said, shaking his head.

Felicity tried not to smile but couldn't help the snort that escaped. Wolverine couldn't stand politics or the military. He tolerated Fury because of the old days, and he was proud Canadian. The only reason he stuck around was to protect the mutant children he'd come to care for while working with Charles Xavier. His annoyance at having to mingle with military types was obvious, Felicity wondered how many favors Nick had promised him to enlist his help as a human lie detector. He wasn't as good as Daredevil but Logan's nose and his instincts weren't easily fooled. He also had a very brash and signature technique of getting people to tell the truth. "Stop baiting him, Logan and get to the script. Sam's screened us, we are obviously not Skrulls. And you want to be here as much as we do. So let's get on with it."

Logan arched an eyebrow at her and twitched a smirk. "Okay, princess." He switched his gaze back to Steve. "What did you spill, bub? What did you give them?"

Steve looked at Fury, unblinking and deadly serious. "They let me heal up first. Left me isolated, fed me once a day, let me train in my cell. Once my heart was sealed up and pumping strong, they started with their interrogation. I gave them nothing. They seemed to have a lot to work with already though. I didn't know how many prisoners they had until I escaped."

"How did you escape? Scudder was a prisoner for twenty one months. He held out for six before he broke," Nick replied evenly.

"Good thing I wasn't there for that long then," Steve said calmly. Felicity squeezed his hand in silent support. He respected the General. No man could hold onto sanity under torture for months on end. His respect for the man hadn't dimmed one iota to learn he'd succumbed. If they'd started torturing Felicity in front of him, he would have told them anything.

"How did you get free?" Logan asked, kicking back in his chair and putting his boots up on the table.

Steve pulled a face at the sight of the bottom of his shoes. It looked like he'd found the only wild animal in the area and stepped in its doo. Felicity gagged and hurled a little in her mouth, turning her head.

"Sorry," she choked and scooted her chair back so she had a bit more distance from the faint smell. Her luck that it wasn't fresh. Small mercies. Early on any kind of strong smell would be enough to set her off, thankfully she was over her first trimester and the nausea wasn't so bad. Logan was pushing her limit though. Between the sweat in the room, burnt tabacco, alcohol and the faint smell of mold, now what she dearly hoped was only coyote faeces, she was struggling.

Sensing and seeing Felicity looking a little pale, Steve glared and growled at Logan, pointedly eyeing his shoes, "Do you mind?"

"I'm getting how they might have tried to break you. Was it a shifter? Did they try to seduce it out of you?" Logan asked tone mild and almost disinterested, although his eyes seemed to linger longer on Felicity's pregnancy swollen assets, further emphasised by her snug Asgardian armor.

Felicity glanced at Steve and worried at his jaw grinding facial tick, he looked like he wanted to dive over the table and go a few rounds with Wolverine, but he restrained himself and clutched her hand a fraction tighter before answering in a low hard voice. He didn't look at Logan however, his gaze trained instead on the darkened window and the small blinking light in the corner underneath a camera.

"They didn't know I was married in the beginning. Felicity registering gave them information they didn't have before. I still don't know how much of it was their morph impersonating her or what was real but at the time, there was no way to tell and I believed it. But I wasn't able to break free. They didn't let up very often and on one occasion they let me watch a recording for hours. It felt as though they had constant surveillance of Felicity. It wasn't until they threatened to take her that I started feeling desperate. I broke free today when they brought her into the room. I didn't know until later that it was a Skrull. I broke my ankle clamp and took the technician working over me hostage. I picked his pocket and used his control to release my other restraints. Then the impersonator and I killed the other guards and made our escape. We freed about twelve other hostages on our way to the main deck, including Susan Storm and Agent Clay Quartermain. When we reached a crossroads, Felicity suggested we split up so she could secure the engine room. "

"You didn't think that was suspicious?" Fury asked, folding his arms over his chest, his one eye showing his disbelief at Steve's perceived gullibility and negligence.

Steve shook his head. "Felicity and I have worked together in the field before. We know each others strengths and I trust her judgement. She understands tech. You could say she's a savant, easily Tony's equal in what she can do with random materials. I knew I'd run into more resistance trying to take the command deck than she would have against their engineers, so I agreed with her plan."

"Which backfired spectacularly according to Quartermain's statement." Fury left his post against the wall and pulled up a chair, straddling it backward. "I've listened to your radio transmission, smart reaching out to S.W.O.R.D. How did you even know how to fly that thing?"

Steve shrugged. "I've flown all kinds of aircrafts. I asked Howard to train me after I realized I didn't want to have to rely on a pilot to fly me to or out of anywhere. There's no one I really trust to look out for my team. They put their faith in me, I never wanted to be locked down in enemy territory with no way out for them. The only problem I had was understanding their language, but Susan helped with that."

"What happened after S.W.O.R.D denied you support?" Logan asked.

Steve leaned forward and put his and Felicity's hands on the table. "I prayed hard and we devoted all the power we could spare to the shields. And as Agent Morse said, we hauled ass."

"Language," Felicity teased fondly, bumping his shoulder. Which she immediately regretted. It was the same shoulder she'd bruised colliding with the Skrull ship. Her wince must have reflected in Fury's expression because everyone went quiet. "It's fine," she protested.

"Have you had medical check you over?" Fury asked.

"Bruce, took my blood pressure and..."

"We wanted to get this done," Steve interjected, he was tired, sore and he was sure she felt the same. The faster they got through Fury's questions, the quicker they could make their escape. This place was cold, musty and reminded him far too much of those cells on the Skrull ship. It felt like he'd traded one prison for another. The only consolation he had was the slim warm hand in his and the woman it belonged to seated beside him. "The sooner this is done, we can leave."

"We only have a couple of questions for Felicity and then you're free to leave as soon as you sign the conditional non-disclosure agreements."

"Oh joy," Felicity snorted. "Paperwork."

::: ::: :::

 **Las Vegas**

After his repeated assurances that he was okay, and for Felicity to stop her fretting because she was channelling his late mother and Steve in pre-mission mode, Bucky managed to convince her that he'd be fine waiting for Sam to finish his interviews and catch a ride with him back to D.C.

Bruce and Natasha had disappeared as soon as they finished their debrief, wanting to give Lt. General Ross as wide a berth as possible. Felicity knew she could reach them at any time and was used to their disappearing without so much as a wave.

She gave herself a headache over the internal debate as to the wisdom of reconnecting the pair. After their brief introduction following Steve's shooting, Felicity hadn't seen her mother in months and she missed her boundless enthusiasm and her can do, upbeat attitude. Most of all she missed her mother's hugs. So in the end her personal wants trumped the issue of any awkwardness her two biological parents might suffer and it wasn't really a surprise that she started crying as soon as her mother greeted her at the door.

"Oh my baby, look at you," Donna blurted, embracing her only child with the exuberance of a loved one who had been deprived of their family for far too long. She ran her fingers through Felicity's shorter locks, that were limp and greasy, clinging with dirt and soot and who knew what else. "Your hair," she bemoaned, before she was quickly distracted by the noticeable bump nudging her body. "And wow, how far along now?" she asked, pulling back but keeping a firm grasp on Felicity's shoulders, she glanced at the baby bump with pride and excitement in her eyes. "Are we at 20 weeks yet? Do you know?" As though she'd only just noticed him, she turned and smiled widely at Steve. Moving from Felicity to her husband, she grabbed him before air kissing both his cheeks. "And Steve, I'm loving the beard," she said and patted his cheek. "It's very flattering. Not that you needed help in the SNAG model worthy department before but my baby's got herself a winner. Don't ever get shot again, you hear. We were all a mess for days. It wasn't pretty."

"Certainly wasn't my intention, ma'am," Steve said, shifting uncomfortably, looking at his wife with a silent plea for help.

Donna slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Oh posh, it's Donna, sweetie."

"Mom," Felicity exclaimed half-heartedly, actually enjoying her babbling. It was comforting to her, familiar but she was still a bit mortified over her mother's antics for Steve's sake. She could tell that all Steve wanted to do was curl up somewhere safe and sleep a day away but he'd let her talk them into driving - her father flying to Vegas - to see her mother. "Mom, I hope you don't mind, but I invited Fandral to join us. He's been staying with me the over the past week and today I don't know how I would have coped without him. He's won some major kudos toward Father of the Year but I won't let him get a big head, he's got a ways to go yet."

Donna's eyes widened, and then sparkled with mischief. "Of course he can stay, honey. Fandral," she cooed. She spied her target lounging beside Saefil in the yard and waved them over like it was an everyday occurrence to find a winged horse in her front garden. "Put her around the back and then come on inside. I'll make up the guest room." She took Felicity's satchel from Steve and walked them through the house. "You two don't mind staying in your old room do you?" she asked Felicity.

Felicity froze mid-stride, her face paling and her eyes growing large. "Please tell me you cleaned up after I left for college."

Donna waved off her dramatics. "Honey, if he starts running now, then you really don't know him as well as you think you do." She leaned in closer to Steve and stage whispered, "Our girl was a bit of a Sci-Fi buff. What am I saying," she said throwing up her hands with an overly bright exclamation, "She still is. Just about wallpapered her walls in Farscape and what was the other one... oh yes, McGyver. He's let himself go but he was absolutely delicious in his prime."

"Brigadier General Jack O'Neill, Mom. He spent years longer playing Jack than he did as MacGyver. Even though you made me watch those with you to try and convert me," Felicity growled with a huff of annoyance. She turned to Steve who was watching her with humor in his eyes. "Don't laugh, better yet not a word while I deal with this."

Steve could only stare, trying not to let his inner mirth escape as his petite, pregnant wife stormed into her bedroom and struggled to tear down the many giant posters adorning her walls. He wondered if he should ask about the dashing looking fellow with glasses. Granted the man was an actor playing a fictional character, but he couldn't help but speculate that he was probably her favorite character. "Who does he play?"

Felicity rolled up the poster he was pointing at rather quickly, and he could tell from the blush on her cheeks and her eyes darting suspiciously that his suspicions were correct.

"Was he the science brain of their team?"

"His field was archaeology actually. The female lead, Samantha Carter, a total badass character and an Air Force officer was their tech and science expert. Her field was astrophysics and she'd always dreamed of being an astronaut," she trailed off a little whimsically.

Steve wrapped his arms around her distended waist, a feeling of awe washing over him once again as his fingers felt the warmth of her body through her thin shirt. She had removed her armor before climbing in the truck they'd borrowed, and only had her thin empire-cut blouse and black thermal leggings on. He'd been glad for the low lighting at the compound after she'd removed her protective layers since he was certain he could see her practical flesh colored sports bra underneath her shirt, and was half urged to cover her up. But he didn't think she'd appreciate his flustering. It was bad enough he'd had to curb his instinct to punch Logan at the man's undisguised leering. He was only half sure that it had been intentional to rattle him for the debrief and not actual leering. The only thing you could be positively sure about with respect to Logan's behavior was that the man didn't make friends lightly, and he treated his friends with respect and loyalty. And Steve knew, that even though he'd never said it to his face, Logan counted him as a friend. "Did you want to be an astronaut?" he asked softly, shifting her hair aside so that he could kiss her neck.

Felicity reached up and cupped his head, holding him willingly captive against the side of her face. "When I was growing up, yeah. But then I got glasses and that dream fell flat."

"You don't need them now," he pointed out.

Felicity let her arm fall, she was still sore and it hurt to keep them up, and shifted to hug him back instead. She held him loosely so that she didn't have to crane so much to look at his face. "I don't need to wonder what's out there anymore. I can see it all if I want to. Fandral wants me to visit Asgard. Actually he's not so subtly hinted many times that he'd worry less if I returned with him." She felt him tense and smiled, tightening her arms around him and putting her ear over his heart. "Never without you. Home is with you."

Steve felt his throat close as he clung to her, holding her as tightly as he could without crushing her or making her uncomfortable with their growing baby between them. He felt his eyes burn with tears and for the first time, he let himself really breathe and release. Letting the anger, fear and helplessness seep out of his body. Only she could do that. She'd always been able to do that, with nothing but her words and her smile.

Later that night, when the house was quiet and dark, Felicity lay there watching him sleep. Barely a minute after hitting the pillow while holding her, he was out. She brushed the longer darker hair away from his face. His hair was a darker blonde and his skin lighter, revealing how long he'd been without sunlight. There were still worry lines on his face as he slept and she trailed her hand lightly over his naked chest which revealed his fading scars from his shooting and fresher ones that he'd suffered under the Skrull interrogators. She felt her heart twist envisioning the pain he must have endured and her fingers shook, causing him to twitch slightly in his sleep, mumbling under his breath. She pulled the sheet up to ward off the night chill and crawled from the bed.

Now that she acknowledged baby's movements, she could feel it all the time. Bruce had been joking about acrobatics but she was beginning to wonder if the kid was parkouring in her belly. Obviously baby had a lot more of Steve's than her genes. She thought of herself as fit and an adequate fighter but she'd much rather curl up with a good book than hit the gym or run around Memorial Park.

Perhaps it was because they were both hungry that baby was extra active. They'd had a light dinner of Chinese take-out but she was used to eating all day long after finding that it was the only way to battle her nausea. Small, frequent meals and plenty of hydration was how she'd managed to actually return to her healthy weight and stay out of the bathroom after losing Steve and discovering she was pregnant.

After years of wandering around without her glasses at night, she discovered that she had excellent night vision and didn't need to turn on lights to find her way around. Not wanting to disturb anyone or call attention to the house in the neighbourhood, she went to the kitchen without turning on any lights. She got a glass from the cupboard and put a small pan on the stove. She then opened the fridge to get out the milk. Her mom got it delivered fresh daily from an organic farmer and she was looking forward to making some cocoa to help her and the jumping jack in her belly to get some sleep.

She closed the door and the shadow she caught on the other side of the kitchen caused her the shriek at the top of her lungs. Felicity dropped the half a gallon bottle and it shattered on the tile floor, spilling milk and glass everywhere.

Steve had woken the second he felt the bed shift. His arms had felt her absence and he had startled awake. Seeing an unfamiliar room, it had taken him a second to remember where he was. The house was dark and he wondered where Felicity had gone, he couldn't hear any sounds beyond the steady hum of electricity in the walls, the sounds of crickets outside and the two dogs from across the road. Throwing back the blankets, he'd gone to look for her. He hadn't expected her to be in the kitchen, moving around in the dark. Even more startling was her reaction when she'd closed the refrigerator door. Still waking up, he had no idea what he was supposed to be do with a hyperventilating woman and the dangerous mess all over the floor.

Felicity backed herself into the counter, her heart racing in her chest and her breathing coming too fast. Her vision got blurry and she could feel a point in her head begin to throb.

Lights flicked on and before she knew it, there was her father in black boxer briefs - were they standard issue for Asgardians? They looked identical to Thor's underwear - obviously put on backward since she was sure the crotch wasn't meant to be saggy and her mother in a robe, which she suspected was all she was wearing, staring at her in obvious concern.

"Felicity?" her mother said worriedly.

Fandral eyed Steve suspiciously and he clenched his fists as though readying to pummel him. "Is he not what he seems? Felicity?"

"Wait," Felicity said, coming back to herself and shaking off her panic. In her haste to stop any looming confrontation, she'd forgotten about the hazard on the floor and stepped right onto a large shard of glass, which went neatly into her foot. "Ow."

Steve immediately move to help her, before her mother stopped him from cutting his own bare feet. Fandral expertly navigated the minefield and scooped her up like she was a child's doll and carried her to the sitting room. He snagged a dish towel on the way out, and wrapped up her foot because giving her a comforting smile. "If you're okay, I'll let him do the rest of the rescuing," he said gently.

Felicity broke a smile in return at his thoughtfulness. "He just startled me that's all. Maybe I should have just turned the lights on."

Fandral patted her shoulder and stood up, he blushed as he finally registered the state of his undress. With a genial nod at her, which was amazing that he could still look dignified, he said, "I'll bid you goodnight, my daughter." Then he left her, but not before shooting a warning glance at Steve.

Donna patted Steve's arm and followed Fandral.

"He doesn't waste time, does he?" Steve said, his tone disapproving.

Felicity watched them talking quietly as they went to her mother's room and tilted her head thoughtfully. "My mother isn't the type to hesitate. She does after what she wants. Caution to the wind. But she lives without regrets. It's her main goal, and even though sometimes she gets hurt, I've always admired her courage. She's not a follower, or a wallflower. She lives in the light and dances through life with the energy and passion of a woman half her age. And I've gotten to know the real Fandral, at least a little, and while he is charming, dashing, a bit of a rogue, he's also compassionate, funny and I don't know.. I can see why she has a weak spot for him, even with all the odds against them. Which should be telling them this a bad idea."

"Sort of like us?" Steve said his voice thick. It hadn't escaped his notice how close she'd grown to her father in such a seemingly short time to him.

"We're different, Steve. I'm not sure how we'll age but I'm sure it won't be the same as Fandral and my mother. Her mortality will always be against them, no matter what favour he has with Asgard's King. Besides, my mother, would never leave this world behind, which is what would be expected if she were ever to be given the honor of taking a golden apple.

Steve averted his gaze from the intensity of her eyes. She always seemed to see right through his brave, strong put-together facade and get to the heart of his concerns. As he crouched in front of her, he pulled up the thigh area of his pajama bottoms a little so he wouldn't split the crotch from his position. He gently lifted her foot to inspect the damage, pulling the cloth away slowly. The wound which was barely more than a pin head had already stopped bleeding but the shard was still in her foot. He looked up at her asking with his eyes if he could remove it. She nodded quickly, biting her lip. He was so gentle that she didn't even feel it come out. He waited to see if it would bleed some more, but her skin looked like it was already tightening in the absence of the foreign object. "I don't think it'll need stitches but it'll probably sting and open when you put weight on it. Do you have any first aid supplies?" he said, effectively steering their thoughts away from the subject for now.

Felicity nodded. "In my satchel." She understood that this developing relationship she had with her birth father would weigh on Steve. Because he wasn't of Earth, he was powerful and he looked young enough to be their age, but she hoped that given time, Steve would see that Fandral was not a threat to their relationship and that all he cared about was her happiness.

He retrieved her bag from their room and once Felicity out an alcohol swab and a waterproof dressing. He cleaned out her cut, blew on it to dry it out and then applied the dressing for her. "Are you okay?" In truth he was referring to more than her foot, but he wasn't sure how much she would be willing to talk about and he didn't want to push her.

She put the kit aside and pulled him up beside her, he went easily and as soon as he was seated, she snuggled up against his chest, drawing his arms around her. "I'm sorry I flaked out. I probably wasn't the best idea going around in the dark. You startled me." She shifted slightly so she could see his face. "I was never afraid of him you know. At least not until Kay showed me who he really was. It was so strange. It was an incredible feeling when Bucky and Tasha found you/him, damn it that's going to get old fast. I should have fought harder to be there in the beginning, General Scudder, who we now know was also a Skrull did his best to shut me out. Especially since the Skrull impersonator was playing amnesiac. Maybe we would have been able to figures their plans out sooner."

"And you would have put yourself in greater danger," Steve said kissing her temple. "What happened, happened and all we can do is learn from it and move forward. There's no use going what if or maybe." He held her tightly and revealed in the weight against his body and the clean scent of her shampoo. He leaned closer and pressed his nose against her shoulder, finally finding a spot of skin that smelled only of her. He stayed like that until she nudge him with her elbow.

"As much as I want to snuggle with you all night, the kitchen is still a mess," she said with a smile in her voice.

Steve trailed his hands up her arms, smoothing away the goosebumps on her skin and squeezed her shoulders. "Keep the bed warm for me, I'll be there in a bit."

When he came to bed ten minutes later, the broken glass in the trash and the kitchen mopped, he also came bearing a mug of hot chocolate. Fortunately for them, Donna had a second bottle of milk or they'd be ordering take out for breakfast too. He found her fast asleep, her face half buried in his pillow. He split a grin wondering how she found that appealing since he was sure even though he'd showered twice, once at the base and once with Donna's using a couple of her many assorted scented toiletries, that his hair still wasn't totally grime and odor free. A memory of Felicity saying she loved him all hot and sweaty came to mind and he chuckled softly to himself. She was quirky, candid, opinionated and sometimes more stubborn than he was but he loved her more than anything. It was her uniqueness that made her, his Felicity. And he was so immeasurably grateful that she was here and that she was safe.

::: ::: :::

 **Present day, Washington D.C.**

Even before the plans had been laid out and written into their cleverly worded gag orders, Steve knew that he did want Felicity anywhere near the circus he knew Capitol Hill was going to be. So he thought up an idea to ask her to stay behind with Bucky. Steve knew that Bucky wouldn't feel at ease being surrounded by so many supers and politicians, so he assumed Felicity wouldn't protest too loudly since he believed, being the thoughtful soul she was, she wouldn't want James to feel like he was the only one staying behind.

What he hadn't anticipated were her conditions. Even though the first things he'd wanted to do after they found the showers in Area 15 were a clean shave and to cut his hair, she'd forbidden it. She had agreed to keep out of the spotlight, so long as he didn't change his appearance at all.

At first he'd been disgruntled over her obstinate demand. He felt like a slob. Granted his shower had to be the most thorough and enjoyable one he'd ever had in his life under her attentive and deliberate ministrations but he'd never let his facial hair grow before and even without a mirror to see it, he hated it. His long hair had been tickling his neck and his cheeks constantly over the past couple of weeks, and the worst thing about it was that he'd been unable to get it out of the way since he'd hardly had free use of his hands. It was only after she'd caught him fidgeting with it in agitation repeatedly that she relented on that point. Apparently Tony could cut hair. Before they left the base, she'd dragged him back to the locker room and they'd done away with the heavy metal rocker look. He didn't want to ask how or when Stark might have picked up the skill, but he didn't do a bad job at cutting his unruly mop into a neat style that both of them were happy with. It was longer than he was used to, but still within regulation.

She had lasted all of four days after which the resulting beard rash she had developed wore her down. It had been fortuitous timing too, since the General had asked if he would accompany him in a professional capacity and he needed to be clean shaven for that. Felicity had stayed in the bathroom as he first trimmed off the thick beard with clippers and then finished with a razor for a close shave.

He'd been concentrating on not nicking himself with the straight edge razor, that it was only when he was done that he'd met her eyes in the mirror and he'd been startled by her expression. She'd gotten a phone call so he hadn't had the chance to ask her what was on her mind that prompted the pain he'd seen in her eyes but that look was haunting him. He suspected it was because with the darker hair and the beard he'd looked obviously different to the Skrull that had worn his face. And now they were becoming more similar. He wanted to ask about the Skrull but he didn't know how or even if he really wanted to know everything. He only wanted to be there for in every way she needed him and he understood it might be painful for both of them but he realized they would need to talk about it in order to heal. He just had no idea how to broach the subject.

They were all currently in Sam's townhouse; Natasha and Bruce on one sofa, Bucky perched on a breakfast nook bar stool, Sam had his feet up on the coffee table and was sitting in his favorite armchair, Felicity was resting against Steve's chest as they shared the corner of the L-lounger with their feet up, while Fandral was passed out against the wall in the corner from the keg of Xandarian wine Kay had brought them to celebrate surviving the invasion and the successful amendments to the Superhuman Registration Act, that would put greater security on the database of registered individuals and immediately cease enforcement of the law and reinstate all the government benefits previously denied to subjected individuals. Tony was throwing a party at the Avengers Tower but none of their group had felt up to a big crowd.

Their fingers interlaced and resting comfortably either side of her rounded tummy, Felicity shifted her head so that her cheek was pressed against Steve's chest. He kissed her forehead and rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. "I worry sometimes that this is only a dream. That I'm still there," he told her softly.

Felicity brought one of their joined hands to her lips and kissed his wrist. "That's why I can't stand it when I can't see you," she confessed just as quietly. Grateful that Sam had turned the sports channel on so that no one would be distracted by their exchange. She would have rather spent the first night back in D.C. alone with him but she knew that their closest friends needed the reassurance of seeing Steve too. "I'm not smothering you am I?"

Steve arched an eyebrow and sent her an incredulous look. "If you're asking about your weight, I easily bench three of you, no sweat and you are not fat, you're pregnant and beautiful," he said with an exasperated grin, "If you're referring to me being reluctant and unhappy about ever letting go of your hand for more than a five minutes, I thought that was my issues, not any fault of yours and if you're asking if I'm feeling smothered by your attention, your physical presence, or your need to fill the silence, my answer this - If every man could be so lucky…" he said softly, and winked at her.

"And damn it, I'm out," Bucky snorted, happy for his friends but unable to tolerate their moon-eyes and whispering for more than a few moments in any stretch.

There was a rush of wind and a boom outside that had him sitting back down however. He frowned and startled at the loud rapping on the door.

It burst open before anyone could even say it wasn't locked. Already knowing from the pounding knock who was on the other side, no one was surprised by his entry.

"Greetings, my friends," he bellowed.

Fandral jerked and mumbled loudly in his sleep, before resettling. Thor glanced at him with a fond grin before rubbing his hands together. "The ale must be good. A pitcher please."

"Hey, even demi-gods can't show up empty handed," Sam protested. "You got to give, to get, here."

Natasha smirked. "Ain't that a universal truth."

Thor looked perplexed before he grinned again. "I brought Jane and Darcy, is that sufficient?"

Sam sat up and face-palmed. Felicity merely grinned at the goofy smile on Thor's face. "Well where are they?"

"I am never travelling on that thing again," came Darcy's unmistakable voice. "Now I know why Sif has her hair tied up. Look at this? I don't think even leave in conditioner is going to help straighten this out and I lost my hat. It was my favorite. Do you think that golden giant, Lord Commander saw where it went?"

Bucky had been about to leave. Normally when he visited with Felicity and Sam, he stayed the night, rather than have to travel the 3-hour train ride back to the Avengers tower but he'd used up his quota of Steve and Felicity sweetness for one day and with how many people were already in the townhouse, he thought it was getting rather crowded. However, the womanly vision of energy and sass that came through the door accompanying Thor's lady friend gave him pause. He knew on sight that this was the Darcy, that the girls and even Tony sometimes talked about. Mouthy, loyal, sassy Darcy.

"I come bearing pizza," Darcy quipped, her red lips spread into a wide-grin. Her keen brown eyes soaking in everything behind her stylish glasses and catching the new but slightly familiar face watching her with interest. She smiled coyly before turning her full attention on the person she'd been intending to visit. "I'm glad you're you and not him. That guy gave me the creeps. He came to London once, hovering and asking me things. Even though Bobbi gave me the heads up, saying he was there on official business or whatever, grrr.." She shivered involuntarily and stomped her foot. "Anyway. Welcome back," she said decisively with a flick of her head, effectively ending her ramble.

"You never told me about that," Jane said between her teeth, and nudged Darcy discreetly.

"There's a lot of things I handle for you and don't tell you. You do the sciency stuff, I deal with all the people stuff. We're a team," she said boldly.

Jane couldn't argue with that, told herself to drop it but was still a little disconcerted that the Skrull had been in her lab at all, even under Darcy's watchful eye.

Felicity lumbered herself off the lounge and went to greet them all. Hugging Thor briefly and group hugged the girls. "You know I was kidding about only being welcome with food right? You're always welcome, but I won't say no to my favorite pizza." Her mouth was already watering. She cracked open one of the boxes as she picked it up and turned to head to the kitchen only to run into Bucky. He stood in her way, and the slice halfway to her mouth almost ended up down her shirt. "James?"

But he wasn't looking at her. He only had eyes for Darcy. "James Barnes," he said capturing Darcy's hand. He kissed it lightly and winked at her. "But my friends all call me Bucky."

"I don't," Felicity said, eyeing him through narrowed eyes. He had almost wasted delicious, precious pizza. Did he know of the wrath he'd only just avoided.

Bucky glanced across at her and shook his head. "And I always tell you, it makes you sound like my mother and I'm in trouble or something."

Steve snorted a laugh and came to relieve Darcy of the rest of the pizza boxes she was carrying. "Thank you, Darcy. Nice to see you, Jane. Thor."

"Do you want to get out of here? Unless you're interested in the game?" Bucky said nodding to the big screen.

Darcy shook her head. "I'm a baseball girl. Dad always took me when he wasn't working, which wasn't a lot, but it was our thing. I'm into dancing too. Maria took us to this great Salsa club last time we were here. Jane has two left feet but so does Thor - it was hilarious to watch. I got it all on camera. Want to see?" Jane made to grab her phone but Darcy was quicker.

"I thought Ian was your male companion?" Thor asked his brow furrowed.

Darcy pulled a face. "Ian thought he was in a paid internship. He maybe have also been under the false impression that he was getting college credit...what," she exclaimed at Jane's slack-jawed look. "I didn't say he was. The lab was lonely when you were in your 'I'm going to bring Thor back head-space' and I put out a flier. He was the only one to answer. It's not my fault he wasn't clever enough to interpret the wording I threw in there. Gain real world experience and knowledge of our galaxy to further expand your horizons. In what I didn't specify and there was absolutely no mention of credit or pounds anywhere in there."

"So you're unattached?" Bucky fished lightly.

"And you're cut, handsome and you've got this dark vibe going on. I like that," she said straightening her back, showing of her ample assets.

Jane was doing her best fish impersonation and although totally adorable and brainy, Darcy didn't think it was a great look. As her best friend, Darcy felt obligated to have her back in all things, including when to close her mouth. She elbowed her again to get her to snap out of it.

Bucky grinned at her and offered her his arm. "Salsa dancing. Never tried it but I'm a fast learner."

"Don't wait up," Darcy threw over her shoulder to Jane and Thor, as she led her new dance partner out the door.

Steve watched his best friend leave with the quirky, pretty brunette on his arm and glanced at Felicity, who had finished her slice of pizza.

"I know," she said with a sigh. "He's all grown up and flown the nest. Darcy's confident, intelligent and very thoughtful, she could be good for James."

Steve shook his head. He only hoped Bucky was ready for Darcy's level of forwardness. She was a modern girl. Bucky might have been off ice longer than him, but Steve knew he still struggled to make social adjustments, just as he did. And he had the benefit of Felicity's patience. But Bucky had always liked chatty, outgoing girls who liked dancing and parties. Perhaps Darcy and James would hit it off as well as they had on their first date.


	18. Ours

**Summary:** Steve thinks maybe his absence didn't leave Felicity as shattered as he first thought. He's wrong of course..

::: ::: :::

 **Sam's Townhouse, Washington D.C.**

On one of her frequent, pre-dawn trips to the kitchen, Felicity almost had a scream and beat up the intruder moment. It was only the fact that said intruder was quietly sneaking out of Sam's room carrying knee high boots, too small to fit a man and not carrying any obvious weapons, that had her clamping her hand over her mouth instead. She watched from the shadows, barely breathing, as the seemingly familiar silhouette, stealthily left the townhouse. After the door closed, Felicity hurried to the window and watched the woman don her boots and walk down the block before getting into her parked car to drive away. Checking the hall clock, she noted that it wasn't quite four in the morning. Heaving a sigh, Felicity realized how much they must be cramping Sam's bachelorhood. They weren't cash strapped, and she wasn't in need of a trustworthy, supportive shoulder anymore. It was time they moved out.

Instead of mentioning their secret house guest at breakfast, which consisted of Sam stuffing a waffle in his mouth that Steve had made, and pouring black coffee into his thermo before jogging out the door for his truck, she waited until that night at dinner to prompt a discussion.

"Steve, we've gone to the banks to set up new accounts and transfer more of our funds back into the country, but I haven't had a chance to show you our holdings yet. Or finish the insurance paperwork we have to do over since there was your death and then resurrection and mistaken identity crisis we went through."

Steve grabbed her wrist from where she was serving out the salad and enveloped her hand, while rubbing his thumb over her pulse point in a soothing, yet unintentionally erotic manner.

Felicity dropped the serving tongs and for a second her brain went down a steamy, non-audience friendly path. She heard a cough that sounded like Sam and that brought her mentally stumbling back to the present and the reason she'd brought up the subject of finances in the first place.

"If you guys need a moment, I can make myself scarce," Sam said only half joking. Steve and Felicity weren't exhibitionists and were very reserved about their PDAs but their intense chemistry and their obvious love was hard to ignore. But instead of making him uncomfortable, all he really usually felt was a touch of envy. He had someone in his life, but it was difficult circumstances that brought them together. Now that the pressure was off and the invasion averted, he wondered if they'd go the distance. She was everything he'd ever wanted in a partner; self motivated, confident, successful, independant and she was gorgeous. He wasn't sure what it was that he felt was missing. It was something, he just couldn't figure it out.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about this too. Since it concerns you." The twin looks of confusion across the table almost made her laugh. How could they mimic worry in the same way, she'd never know. "Stop frowning, it's not Defcon 1, and nothing life threatening. It's just… well Sam knows, I wasn't coping well after…" she felt her throat close all of a sudden and she tucked her chin taking a steadying breath, fighting the involuntary tears that burned in her eyes. Steve was right next to her, still holding her hand. They were okay. He was safe. "After I lost you," she forced herself to say and she smiled at him softly, hoping he understood that she didn't blame him, and that she loved him.

Sam glanced between them, and felt his guilt kick up a gear. "I'm sorry, Felicity. I'm sorry I didn't know what to do, but I should have tired."

Felicity growled at him playfully and shook her head adamantly. "Sam, you had a grieving, pregnant woman on your hands. That you didn't run for the hills says everything about your character. You took me in, you stuck around and you still managed to do your job through all my emotional breakdowns.'

Sam gave her a lopsided grin, embarrassed by her praise. He pushed his half empty plate away. He didn't think he could eat anymore with the nerves playing havoc in his stomach. He hadn't glanced at Steve yet but he could feel the weight of his eyes on him. He wasn't sure what he would do if he saw disappointment in the his friend's face.

"I had Bruce and Tasha too. They were a God-send. Natasha introduced me to Laura Barton, and the woman's calm and warmth, not to mention her experience just made everything seem manageable. I spent a week there after my first check-up. Natasha was working with Bucky checking out various HYDRA locations and she didn't want me to be alone. It was while I was there, that Laura mention a farm up for sale. The wife had lost her husband and they had no children. It's a big farm about 7-miles away from where Laura and Clint live. I went up there to see it with Laura and the kids and fell in love with it. We never had a place that was ours. And the second I stood on the porch of that house I could see the future there, family picnics, lazy Sundays, a place you could easily make a home. There's a huge pond, forests all around, and lots of pastures where they used to raise horses. I met the old groundskeeper and his wife and they couldn't afford to buy out the owner, but they'd lived on the property for the past thirty years. Something just told me to invest in it. I don't know a thing about raising horses, but the owner had sold her stock, it was just the property for sale, not a business, and I couldn't walk away. So I went to town and made the realtor an offer. The owner took my reduced offer and in under a week I had the property. I leased out the house and I've been working with the groundskeeper to start up a small produce farm. I've been up there a couple of times, when Clint has flown home and it's looking great." She studied Steve's face, he hadn't said a word during her explanation and he had an undecipherable expression on his face.

"We have a farm?" he said, his tone flat and his eyebrows pinched.

Felicity slowly withdrew her hand from his, wringing her hands together in her lap, worried over the lack of enthusiasm or anything in encouraging his voice. "Yes, in Vermont," she said carefully, trying to gauge his mood.

Sam tried to smile at them both but after seeing Steve's face he wasn't sure congratulations was the right thing to say. "Vermont is a big move," he said hesitantly. "There's really no rush. You guys can stay as long as you need."

Steve looked at his empty hand and frowned deeper, before his eyes closed. He pushed back from the table and stood up. "I need some air."

Felicity felt her heart skip a beat and fisted her hands under the table. "Steve?" She glanced at his back as he turned away from her. His shoulders twitched and she could see his muscles bunching under his sweater. Steve really enjoyed exercise, but he only ran impromptu when he was upset. Why was he upset? Maybe she'd chosen the wrong way to talk about this. If she'd brought it up when they were alone, she'd force him to stay and talk to her. Right now, she didn't know what to say. They had an unwilling captive audience. Before she could get up, Steve had already made the two short strides to the kitchen door and was out into the night before she could stop him.

Sam helped her clear the table and washed up. Felicity put Steve's dinner in the oven and packed the leftovers into the fridge.

"Do you have pictures?" Sam asked out of curiosity, hoping to break the silence and lighten the feeling of heaviness in the air.

Felicity nodded. "I have lots of pictures. Laura's eldest children spent the day swimming in the pond, until they realized it had fish, and then they freaked. It was funny after we actually calmed them down."

She got her tablet and brought it to the kitchen. Sam stood at her shoulder while she went through her albums.

"This is the main house. It doesn't need much work since it's only about 16 years old and it's runs off solar power and plumbs off gray water, and there's 5-stage filtration system feeding off an underwater spring for tap water. There's a smaller guest house, that the groundskeeper is using at the moment….do you think it's a bad investment?" she asked, suddenly. "I mean maybe I was impulsive and I didn't do research like I normally would." She fell quiet and her brow furrowed when she realized that she hadn't really done more than look at local market prices and took Laura's word for it, that the asking price was relative and the property was a once in a lifetime investment.

The rent coming in wouldn't have covered what she would have paid in repayments if she'd borrowed the money from the bank but she didn't owe the bank. She'd bought the farm through a family trust she'd set up for her and Steve, using money she'd made through a stock exchange analyst bot she'd developed to manage their money while they'd been in hiding. Through the program she'd created, they had accumulated five times what they'd put into the Cayman accounts when they'd prepared to run. They weren't big spenders and living rent free at the Tower and Steve later at the training base in Virginia, they'd saved quite a lot between them. Yearly, Steve earned a decent salary from S.H.I.E.L.D and while it was hardly comparable to the salary she got as a Department Head at Stark Industries, together they had saved more than 620K over the course of their relationship. Which had amounted to more than 3-million return by the time she decided to purchase the farm.

The farm had given her something to focus her attention on, giving her less time to worry over searching for Steve, and later the fact that he had no memories of her. She had, had development projects to research and organic licence regulations to read over. There were so many possibilities as to what to do with the place. She'd also discovered that part of the 600+ acres included a maple grove that had never been cultivated or harvested. When she wasn't testing Tony's new tech ideas, or reviewing projects the company was interested in, she was working on revenue ideas for the farm. The young family renting the property had agreed to a short lease because they weren't sure that they wanted to make a permanent move to rural living coming from Boston and big city life and Felicity was undecided about whether she wanted to stay in D.C, or move to the country once baby was born. Tony said she could easily commute when he needed her via helicopter and she could work from home the rest of the time. Pepper had, had to fill her position when she'd left without notice but considering the circumstances, Tony and Pepper had been understanding. She wasn't head of Applied Sciences any longer but they had re-hired her as a consultant and the pay was more than generous.

::: ::: :::

It was only after he hit the back porch steps that he realized that his footwear wasn't conducive to running. His slippers would probably trip him up two strides in. Instead he wandered over to the shed and slid the door open, waving Saefil down when she bucked eagerly at his appearance.

"Sorry girl, I'm not here to ride. Just needed to clear my head." When she snorted unhappily at him, Steve cracked a smile. "Yeah, I doubt Felicity's happy with me at the moment either, so you'll be in good company." At her baleful whinny, he stroked her neck and relented. "What the heck, why don't we go for a ride, huh? Just you and me, would that be okay with you?"

Following the impatient toss of her silvery mane, he moved back so he could slide open the gate to her stall. Fandral had helped Felicity convert Sam's boat shed into a stable. Sam had, had a boat before his last tour in Afghanistan. He'd sold it when he realized there was a possibility it could get stolen while he was away. The money was safer in the bank and he could always buy another boat.

They walked out together into Sam's modest backyard. Saefil tucked her wing against her body so he could mount and as soon a he had settled on, the horse took flight. As the night air thinned the higher he got and dropped several degrees, he found that appreciation of air he was looking for and also a dose of belated wisdom.

He remembered his parents together. They had, had a healthy, supportive, affectionate relationship. They'd had both been hardworking and shared the household tasks. They hadn't wanted him to be an only child but perhaps with how sickly he'd been, it may have been God telling them more children would have had more emotional anxiety, concern over if he was even going to make it to adulthood and financial strain on their already meager means. His mother had severe morning sickness where she was bedridden and had several miscarriages before they'd sat him down to say, there wouldn't be another baby.

From his parents example he understood what love was. Love wasn't just a feeling. You could love someone and be upset with them. You could love a person and be disappointed in them. You could love someone and still want better from them. But he also knew that love endured far longer than a person was a physical part of your life.

When his father had died, he'd often found his mother staring off into the distance while cooking or washing up. She would get quiet after reading to him for bed, it had usually been a family affair, curled up in the lounge in front of the only oil heater in the house tucked in his blanket snuggled between them. He caught her for weeks after his father passed, pausing on the way out to work of a morning, and sometimes after returning at night too, staring at his father's coat on the hook and his shoes by the door. The first few days she had cried at times, but she had continued on as normal. He understood, even from his child perspective that if she didn't work, they wouldn't eat.

For a second while Felicity had been telling him about all she'd done, when she had believed him dead, he had doubted her love for him, but it only took going over his memories to reassure him that she had been grieving, but she fought on. She picked herself up and did her best to protect and provide for their family in his absence.

 _"Damn it. I thought once they restructured S.H.I.E.L.D they got rid of all those trigger happy yahoos. We almost lost John today. They opened fire and he's construct didn't hold."_

 _Felicity had stopped what she was doing the second he stormed in, throwing his gear angrily in the corner. She stayed quiet while he paced and ranted._

 _"Have you heard back from, Oliver?" he asked harshly. "We need to set up a meeting. There's got to be a better way to get to our people before S.H.I.E.L.D or Osbourne's group do."_

 _"Oliver got called in by DoD last week. He's under the microscope. Hope is picking up the slack and Mari is helping but it'll be a few days before they can get a team together to make another extraction."_

 _Steve glared at her and Felicity impassively met his eyes. When her eyes tracked to where he'd thrown his shield, he noticed the decent concave indentation it had made in the dry wall. He winced and looked down abashed._

 _Felicity choose that moment to leave her station and wrap her arms around his waist. Squeezing him tightly once, she leaned back to look up at him. "Things suck big time. We're doing our best to help who we can. Just know, that it's impossible to help everyone. You're only responsible for your own actions, Steve. You're just one man. Those who matter understand, and those who don't, don't matter."_

 _"Did you just roundabout quote Jessie J at me?" he asked with a grin tugging at his lips._

 _Felicity looked coy. "Maybe, I know you love her music. I also think you have a closet kink for the goth-look. I might have to go on a hunt for my spiked boots."_

 _And just like that, his anger at the world was forgotten for a time in the warm of her love. She didn't judge him for his temper, or get defensive over his confrontational mood, she'd patiently waited for him to cool off, before proving she accepted him, flaws and all._

 _:: ::_

 _"Felicity!" It was the fourth time he'd yelled out for her. She finally came running into the room, her folders stuffed under one arm and her tablet clutched to the chest._

 _"What is it?" she asked, a little breathless, and her eyes darting around looking for the emergency._

 _"I can't find the small skillet," he said with his meekest expression. He knew how weak his excuse sounded to his own ears but he was committed to his lie now. Really he could have turned off the heat, and looked for it himself but he wanted her company, and he just wasn't bold enough to ask for it without some excuse._

 _Felicity rolled her eyes and deposited her work on the table. "Sometimes I wonder how you survived without help in the kitchen."_

 _"I didn't really cook a lot before you," he said with a cheeky grin. "There isn't much satisfaction to be had cooking for one."_

 _Felicity pecked him on the cheek and retrieved his desired pan from the pot drawer no more than a foot from where he stood. "You're lucky I love eating your food and watching you cook, mister," she growled teasingly._

 _He was lucky. She never even complained about having to clean up after him either._

 _:: ::_

 _Steve stepped out of the shower to discover an interesting phenomenon under his feet. The floor wasn't cold or slippery, it was soft and fluffy._

 _He looked down and noticed a red cotton bath mat just outside the shower door. It was as the fog and lingering steam drifted about around him, that the realized he'd forgotten to use the fan switch again._

 _Rather than nag him repeatedly, Felicity often switched it on for him when she was around and now, she'd gotten a bath mat to prevent anyone doing any damage to themselves or the tiling. He smirked to himself as he noticed a matching one in front of the vanity._

 _Thor would no doubt appreciate her thoughtfulness too._

 _:: ::_

"I was being an idiot, wasn't I?" he confessed to the Pegasus. "I wasn't around. She was making plans for a future without me, thinking of our child. I wouldn't have wanted her in the city alone. Not surrounded by the aliens and superhuman danger we know exists. I remember the Bartons' place. It was peaceful and the air was good. It definitely felt off the grid. And it felt like what a real home should feel like. Welcoming, warm and... Our house will have kids toys, drawings and little people running around too," his voice dropped, the chill in the air or was it his emotions, stealing his ability to talk. He gripped her mane tighter as his heart ached in his chest. He'd just walked away from the mother of his child. So he had needed to sort out his headspace but he shouldn't have walked out on her. She had been trying to share what plans she had made and instead of asking questions and trusting her, he'd let his male pride take the wheel.

He had always felt a little insecure about how much more she contributed to their savings but the one time he'd made a throwaway comment about it, she'd pulled such a disappointed expression and poised for a loud voice speech that he'd quickly back-pedalled and did his best to dispel any issue with old school bread winning, that he made a mental note never to mention it again. Obviously his issues were still a work in progress. Would he have liked to be involved in her decision, absolutely. Had circumstances allowed for that, no and it wasn't anyone's fault but those Skrulls.

The cityscape far beneath his feet looked tiny. Atop a mythical creature, having just survived the surreal experience of being a captive in outer space, he realized how insignificant his perceived problems were. He was alive. He had a beautiful wife who loved him unconditionally. He had shelter and food to eat. Many couldn't count themselves even half as fortunate. They were only a small part of an seemingly infinite universe out there. He had seen beyond the scope of what he'd been taught and he was resisting but he needed to accept that there was very little he had control over. While he would like to have had a voice in every facet of their lives together, that just wasn't a realistic desire to have considering the people they were. Their lives weren't normal or predictable and probably never would be. He was America's super soldier and Felicity was daughter of an ancient race.

He owed his wife an apology. Felicity wasn't a frivolous spender, nor was she stupid and the inadequacy he felt as a provider and the belief he'd sometimes failed to shake that she was too far out of his league, that she could have done far better than him, didn't need to rear its ugly head. He wasn't going to sabotage the best thing that had ever happened to him by being chauvinistic.

"Take us home, Saefil." Steve patted her neck as he cleared his throat. Home. He'd forgotten what that meant to him for a moment. Home was with Felicity. They could be anywhere as long as they were together.

He claimed to trust her and have every confidence in her. He professed to love her. He hadn't shown that tonight.

Walking Saefil back into the shed, he shuffled slowly, feeling sheepish, back into the house. The kitchen light was still on but Sam and Felicity were no where in sight. He found his dinner in the oven. She had covered it with foil so it was still warm.

He sat down at the table and saw her tablet there. Curious as to why she had left it in the kitchen, he woke up the device, and before he could even look at a pictures he noticed what the album was called and dropped his fork, feeling like the biggest heel alive.

 _Rogers Farm_

Part of the reason he'd felt slighted was he'd worried that it seemed like she'd picked up and moved on with her life pretty quickly in his absence.

This truth slapped him upside the head with figurative force. It was there every time she looked at him with her smile, it was there in her patience and in her demonstrative love yet he still had doubts? And he thought Tony was a fool.

Steve pushed away from the table and took a fortifying breath, while rubbing a palm over his face. It was time he swallowed some humble pie and hoped he wasn't going to be sleeping on the sofa tonight. He found her with papers spread all over their bedcovers in the bedroom.

He blinked. They looked like financial reports, colored graphs and percentages pies, along with projections and she had a journal open that looked well used.

"What are you doing?" he enquired gently.

Felicity startled and the pen fell from her mouth. She had another tablet on her lap and she'd been typing away at something, that she hadn't noticed him come in. "Steve, honey, if you're not happy with this, I promise you we haven't lost anything. I can sell just as soon as the current lease is up, which is only three months off. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do once baby came so I wanted options. I was going through market prices and I spoke to an overseas agent and because we've put in the work to start the maple syrup production and the licence for organic farming, if I can get a long term tenant, we could even sell it as a business to an investor and it would make us more in the long run."

Steve crossed to her side of the bed and shifted her work. He took her hands and covered them with his. "I was being a jerk. It's not about the money," he said haltingly, berating himself over the redness in her eyes. She had been crying and he's done that. He had upset her and caused her to worry. He hung his head, swallowing hard before telling himself to grow a pair and speak from the heart. She had never judged him for his weaknesses before, she wouldn't start now. He looked up and met her bright gaze, her face open and accepting. "I know you wouldn't waste our money on something that isn't worthwhile. I guess in that moment you told me, I just felt redundant. You didn't need me. You had plans, you we're figuring things out and I wasn't a part of any of it..."

Felicity's eyes flooded. "Steve, nothing could be further from the truth. I had you with me, every second of every day. Speaking of," She reached under her shirt and pulled out his ring which hung around her neck on a thin cable necklace. "I took it off when I changed to bring you home and it's been in my jewellery box. I dug it out since we've been back but you never commented on it, and you didn't wear it all the time before, so I figured if you wanted it back you'd ask. I got used to wearing it. As a reminder of the promises we had made to each other. You're always with me," she protested firmly. "Right here," she brought their hands over her heart.

Steve withdrew his fingers from hers and removed the chain from around her neck. He took the ring from the necklace and slipped the band on his finger. Since being home, he'd gain his healthy weight back and the ring fit perfectly over the thin patch of skin that was only faintly untanned. "I'm never taking this off, ever. The world, heck, the universe knows we're married. You're mine, Felicity Smoak-Rogers." He leaned down and kissed her deeply.

Felicity smiled against his mouth and pushed against his chest. "Actually our baby will be Rogers, I don't want to saddle them with a hyphen of a man who hasn't been in my life for over two decades. Besides, I love the sound of Felicity Rogers when you say it," she said her voice low and inviting.

Steve felt all the blood in his body rush south at the temptress in her voice. Her hair was falling loose from who she'd pinned it up and her cheeks were still rosy from her tears. He bent forward and kissed each eyelid. "You have my permission to slap me upside the head if I'm being an idiot."

Felicity held his face with one hand. "I'd much rather grab you and kiss you until you start making sense," she said smartly.

Steve smirked at her. "That doesn't sound like punishment. I might never learn to be a better husband and communicator."

Felicity took his hand at put it on her breast. "Is that a clear enough instruction for you?"

His breath caught in his throat. They'd only made love a handful of times since he'd returned. At first they were both injured and needed time to heal. Later, he'd been worried he'd hurt the baby, until she dispelled that belief by riding him twice in one night, but he was still cautious about initiating anything with her.

Her breast was heavy and warm in his hand. It filled his palm and he could feel her nipple hardening under his touch. He closed his eyes and soaked up the sounds she was making and the softness of her body as he thumbed her nipple till it was stiff and obviously rigid beneath her maternity bra. She'd done away with underwire weeks ago explaining that it had been far too uncomfortable to wear. She didn't need the lift in his opinion. Her beautiful perfect breasts had almost doubled in size and were spilling out of the soft, supportive bra he could see peeking out from under her night-shirt.

He gathered the hem of her shirt and lifted it over her head, she watched him with hot eyes and he waste no time divesting her of her bra too, before he latched onto one darkened, engorged nipple and laved it while she held his head to her breast.

Felicity made noises that made him suckle her harder, flicking the nub with his tongue and it made higher brain function impossible because he felt all the blood in his body was pooling and pulsing in his crotch. Switching to the other breast, he only detached long enough to get rid of his sweater and body-shirt in one move. He urged her back across the bed, not caring about the rustle of papers beneath them. He did however shift her tablet to a safer spot out of the way, so it wouldn't be in any danger of landing on the floor.

He kissed his way down her rounded stomach to her bellybutton which was beginning to pop out. He was nearly distracted from his mission when he felt a tiny jolt against his lips, he paused briefly caught up by concern for the baby but the interruption didn't break his concentration for long. Felicity's hands had found his belt and in a second she was cupping him through his briefs, and all other thoughts fled his brain.

He twitched under her hand and he felt a new surge of heat pulse through his body. If he didn't get inside her soon, he'd be decorating his underwear like a pubescent teen. With a warning growl and a serious cautionary look at her, which she seemed to think was humorous from her sparkling eyes and smothered giggle, he shed his jeans and briefs.

Capturing her mouth again, he kissed her breathless and didn't pull away until he felt his own lips tingling from too much stimulation. Levering himself up, he gazed down at her, seeing her happiness and desire in her eyes, her lips red and puffy, her pulse point thundering under the smooth creamy skin of her throat, he couldn't hold himself back any longer.

"I want to make love to you, can we do it this way?" he asked motioning the the way he was standing between her spread thighs, bracing himself on his hands over her. "Will you tell me if it's too much?"

Felicity ran her hands up his arms to his shoulders. "You'd never hurt me," she said firmly.

Steve hooked his thumbs in her nude colored underwear and pulled them down her thighs. Felicity then kicked them off herself, Steve didn't much care where they landed. He was too busy fixated on the sight of how ready she was for him, her golden curls glistening with her wetness. He tested her with one thick finger before adding another. She whimpered and arched on the mattress, causing more rustling and crunching of the papers beneath her. Gloriously naked, her curls loose and gracing her shoulders, golden straw-colored hair fanned about her head, her red lips open and panting, he'd never pictured her more wanton and he was out of his mind for her.

He worried that he wouldn't be able to control his thrusts, that his strength would get out of hand. But hesitation didn't last, because she decided things for him. Her hand closed around him and drew him in and once her slick heat touched his skin, he was lost. He surged home and fully sheathed inside her, he shuddered and cried out.

Her muscles rippled over him and he couldn't help the expletive that fell from his tongue. Without any conscious thought, his body took over and set a vigorous, steady pace of driving in and pulling away, until just his head stayed inside her. Felicity seemed to be at a loss to control herself too, her body writhing on the bed, her hands fisting in the covers. She tried to bite her lips to keep from crying out as he surged into her again and again, feeling her muscles stretch and clutch at him, repeatedly, getting warmer and wetter with every thrust but she wasn't successful. The sounds of her gasps and whimpers filled his ears and almost shattered his restraint. He watched perspiration break out across her brow and at the hollow of her throat, little beats of sweat forming between her breasts. His limited attention was split between watching the expressions of rapture and esctasty on her face and the extremely entrancing way her breast bounced as he drove into her.

His pace broke her control, and she couldn't hold in her cries anymore. She started praising him and begging him in the same breath. He didn't know which to listen too, so he figured he listen to her body instead and the way it was grabbing at him, he figured he was doing the right thing. He gave her a smug, bemused grin when she grasped one of the throw cushions and planted it over her mouth, her chest contracting as she screamed into it. He watched her eyes roll back, and her body tense as a flash of heat raced through her. He felt it and the way her muscles clenched around him hard and it triggered his own release. He came with a pained groan and a curse with the force of the sensation running riot over his nerve-endings. Unable to stand any longer, he kept hold of one of her legs, anchoring her against his body and came to rest on the bed beside her. He stroked the strands of hair that clung to her face, away from her eyes and kissed her.

"I don't deserve you," he said softly, still shorton breath. "But I love you and I can promise you, that I'll always try to be a better man. A better husband, lover and some day soon, the best father I can be."

Felicity wiped the tear that fell from the corner of her eye. Damn pregnancy hormones made her a basket case of emotions at the best of times. "You are the best man for me, Steve. All I ask is that you love me. Together we can work through anything."

"Amen to that, darlin'," he said with a grin. "What do you say tomorrow we take a short road trip."

Her eyes widened and her smile was blinding. "You want to see it?"

"I'd love to," he said honestly.

Felicity threw her arms around his neck and showered him with kisses. "Oh I can't wait to show you around. Ahhh, but first thing's first. I need a bath. Our gymnastics woke the parkour athlete up and water seems to be the only thing that settles the little monster down."

"Don't call her that."

Felicity arched an eyebrow at him. "Her? What makes you think we're having a girl?"

Steve shrugged and trailed a finger over her shoulder and collarbone to circle her breast. "I don't know. I just don't imagine I'll be good at sharing. A girl seems like a safer choice."

Felicity snorted and poked at his ribs where she knew he was ticklish, sure enough he jerked violently but she found her hands quickly taken captive to prevent any further attacks. "We don't get to pick and sorry, there's no return to sender. We don't have to wait any longer though. I'm past due for my 20 week scan."

"Isn't that halfway now?" Steve asked. He'd been reading up on the books on pregnancy, childbirth and infancy that Felicity had around the house and he felt a little more prepared and knowledgeable about what she was going through and the baby's development.

"A bit over. I'm 22 according to my calculations and my first scan said my dates were pretty on the mark. Baby will make an appearance on or around the 25th of November." Steve's eyes widened in surprise and his lips fell open. Felicity felt her heart skip a beat. "What is it?"

Steve blinked and pressed a kiss to her shoulder before reverently stroking her belly. "I think she'll be exactly on time," he said his voice thick with emotion.

"Really?" Felicity asked in curiousity.

"She's due on my mother's birthday."

Felicity was speechless. She'd heard of some families having lots of shared birthdays, but considering it had only been her mother, herself and Kay for so many years, being estranged from her grandparents, and not knowing where in the world her father might be, she'd never dreamed it might happen in her family. "That's amazing," she said softly. "Coincidence or fate?" she wondered out loud.

"I don't believe anything happens by chance, good or bad it always for a reason. I survived being frozen all those years, stopped Hydra's attempt at armageddon and Bucky's beat down to meet you. We always find our way back to each other, surviving terrible odds and now this little miracle. I never thought I'd find love again, much less have a family. Felicity, my faith was shaky at best. The first day I met you, you brought me hope. You didn't even know Bucky but you saw what was in those files and you promised to help me anyway. I have so much to be grateful for. Please don't ever let me lose sight of that," he said brokenly, thinking back to only an hour ago when he'd hurt her with his silence and walking out.

Felicity kissed his forehead and linked their hands. "No one's infallible, Steve. But we're perfectly, perfect together. Love you."

"Love you, too." He reluctantly pulled away from her and shuffled all her loose documents into a messy pile and put them aside so he could turn the bottom half of the covers over her. "I'll go run your bath."

Felicity sighed. Her husband might be rough around the edges at times, but to her, he was as close to perfection any person could ever hope to be. She hugged the pillow in his absence and let out an inner squeal of joy. Tomorrow she'd get to share her biggest project with him, the one dearest to her heart. A landmark for their future. A place to call home and something that belonged to them.

The next morning at breakfast Sam gave them a look that had Steve growing red in the face and blurting a token apology and Felicity trying and failing to hide an embarrassed but sappy grin behind her cup of tea.

"So when are you moving out? There are sounds I never imagined I'd hear coming from you," he said with a grimace at Steve. "Either of you," he amended quickly. "I think I'm damaged for life. How long do you think it'll take for me to forget hearing all that." His eyes brightened for a suddenly. "I'm Neuralizing myself."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that kind of use is sanctioned."

Sam got up with a determined look. "Kay will empathise with my situation. Besides I went through all kinds of crap for him... For everyone, whatever. It's a foolproof plan and I'm going with it. Last night never happened."

Felicity couldn't hold in her laugh at his ernest desperation. "Sorry... I just... You're not as quiet or stealthy as you think."

Sam glared at her and folded his arms in a huff. So much for his efforts to spare them awkwardness. "I hate you."


	19. Instincts

**Summary:** A training simulation pushes Bucky to breaking point. And Steve discovers some of the stress he's been hiding.

::: ::: :::

Steve had felt this grip before, and it had been just as crushing and frightening then. He grabbed Bucky's wrist and lifted his legs to kick against his chest. Feeling his shoulder pull under the blow, Bucky dropped him and Steve dove away for his shield.

Nearby he could see Oliver and Clint resorting to blows and jabs with knives, all out of arrows, trick and otherwise.

He lost sight of Maria and Natasha, but he knew they were around. His main concern was making sure Bruce didn't try to get in on this madness. Who's brilliant idea it was to use an emotionally triggered simulation needed their head examined.

Sam and Tony were currently trying to outmanoeuvre one another and only narrowly avoided clothes-lining, Wasp who had turned human-size to out run Ant-Man's pursuit.

It was total chaos. They had come in ready and expecting to be fight the enemy, not each other. Come to think of it, he'd heard sounds of gunfire and explosions, but since entering the simulation he hadn't seen one threat. Aside from his best friend who was doing his level-best to rearrange his face.

Bucky dove at him and he dodged the smashing fist. "Wait," he yelled.

Steve suddenly got it. They were fighting each other because they were under some kind of illusion. This was a test. He had only figured out it was Bucky he was fighting when his grip had felt familiar, shattering the illusion that had been playing with his mind.

Bucky grabbed the edge of his shield and wrenched it off him. Steve grunted in protest to the jerking movement. His joints were going to be screaming at him tomorrow. He was really beginning to get pissed off at how much stronger Bucky was with that arm.

"Buck, it's an illusion. I'm not the enemy," Steve yelled at him. It had only taken him five minutes to figure that out, but it was five minutes of constantly avoiding getting any teeth punched out and ending up in traction for a week.

"You think you know me. You don't. Everyone keeps saying I'm an Avenger, a good guy. I'm not a good guy," Bucky screamed.

Steve dodged another fist and it crunched into the concrete floor near his head. Steve's gaze flew to Bucky's face for a moment, studying his eyes. They were slightly red rimmed with a reddish glow. Wanda. The lapse in attention cost him. A boot to the stomach set him sailing into a wall and through it. He pushed himself up as Bucky climbed through the void.

"You think I'm redeemable. I'm not. Even Darcy knows it now. She didn't before but she does now. You call yourself my friend? Why didn't you stop me! I have no business being with them. I'm a monster, look at me!" he screamed at Steve. "I could have killed her. I've killed so many. The blood is never going to wash out. I'll never be free." Bucky fell to his knees, his face tormented and his back stooped.

Steve looked around, seeing if he could spot the sorceress. "Wanda, enough!"

The simulation ended and the illusion everyone seemed to be subject to, fell away. Sam and Tony looked the most shocked. The others fighting seemed exhausted and a touch embarrassed.

"Who were you fighting just now?" Tony demanded of Sam.

Sam scratched his head. "Ah.. a rogue Iron Man sentinel."

"Not outside the realm of possibility," Tony agreed.

Sam took off his broken tracking goggles. "Who were you fighting?"

"You," Tony said simply. "Evil, relentless, can't shake you off my ass, you."

Sam's mouth fell open. "You used missiles on me?"

Tony shrugged. "You fired first."

"I thought you were a drone!"

Natasha and Maria were both breathing hard, and sporting fresh bruises, weeping cuts and Maria had a split lip and a cut inside her mouth. She was counting herself lucky that Natasha had seemed to be holding back. "Latent aggression?"

"You had a gun in my face and I didn't have my bites, you're lucky I didn't break your arm," Natasha said with a grimace as she squeezed and flexed her wrist. Maria used her height and every pound of extra mass to her advantage, she certainly hadn't pulled her punches.

"I'm sorry for my part in the secrecy. But I guess being Fury's favorite agent for so many years you know how he likes to play things," Maria said conversationally.

Natasha twitched a smile and extended her pain free hand to Maria. "Byones?"

Maria smiled and then groaned, the split on the inside of her cheek and the corner of her mouth stretching. She shook Widow's hand and then dropped it, gingerly touching the side of her face. "Damn it, remind me never to sign up for training sims again."

Natasha arched an eyebrow. "Oh, I'm going to have words with Fury over this one."

"Can't argue the merits of focusing more on using our other senses though. I knew something was off after I heard the way your were breathing. It didn't match the picture I had in my head. Viper doesn't breathe like you do. Does she even breathe through her nose?" Maria asked, only half joking.

Natasha only smirked and shrugged, heading for the showers.

Oliver and Clint collapsed next to each other. "Remind me never to go up against you in a dark alley?" Clint joked.

"You're the best workout I've had in years. It was strange. I've been hit with mind altering drugs before, but this was something else. I was fighting myself but you were coming at me with moves I'd never used before. And in the back of my mind, I knew it wasn't reality and yet it was felt too real. I could feel the strain of my body, and the pain of the hits. The adrenaline gave it an edge and I could feel the blood pumping. I wasn't dreaming, so I went with mind control of some kind and decided I need to just sweat it out, or wait for the illusion to break."

"That ricochet shot was a neat move. Nearly winged me."

Oliver grinned proudly. "That was the goal. You've got game. How long did you train?"

"My dad gave me my first bow at six. I've been honing that skill since then. Fury recruited me for his special operations division when I was seventeen. It was just before Dr. Pym left the organization and S.H.I.E.L.D was still in its early stages. I knew Peggy Carter. Did she have a presence about her let me tell you. She was graying and old enough to be my grandmother but the way she carried herself. The woman could command attention in a room full of men, without batting an eye and pack a punch like a ranger. You've got youth on your side, Queen. I'm 45. I'm starting to feel my age. Trick I've learned. Never stop trying to broadened your ability. Watch different styles of fighting and take up any offer to learn a new skill. Never know when it might save your life."

"Truer words," Oliver agreed. He held out his hand to Clint. "I take my hat off to the master."

"A more experienced marksman, perhaps," Clint quipped. "You've got the eye and the mind to be out of my league someday. But not today," he said with a wink.

Oliver chuckled and got to his feet, limping under the cramp he'd developed while he'd been sitting. He winced as he felt the muscles in his side protesting his overstretch. He was never totally without pain. His body was a mass of scar tissue from his time on the island, his year as Waller's errand boy and later as a mob enforcer. There were also breaks that had never been set properly that ached like a bitch in the cold, or if he overworked himself, which was often.

Clint frowned. "I noticed some of your movements looked stiff. Before you fly out, you should get medical to take a look. They've had some major breakthroughs with repairing bone, muscle and tissue fibres with simulated organic material. I couldn't tell the difference and there's no scarring."

"Thanks, I'll ask them to take a look."

Scott opened his visor and helped Hope up off the floor. "Sorry about that cheap shot."

Hope grimaced as a muscle in her side protested her movement. "We really need to do something about our issues."

"What kind of therapist do we see that will understand an alien clone of you trying to kill me?" he asked, planting his hands on his hips.

"The same kind that can understand what it's like being held captive and interrogated, studied and poked at like a lab rat for months. I've never been supportive of animal testing and being on the other side of that scope, I'm even more vehemently against it. Scott, I care about you, a lot. But if we're going to make this work, we need to find a way to trust each other again."

"I fell in love," he blurted. Immediately disconcerted at how loud he'd said it, and feeling eyes on them as he remembered they weren't alone. He inched closer, holding her elbow. "I said I love you and I don't know if you were you or it was her and it's screwing with my head…"

Her lips on his silenced him. Hope tried to talk to her Dad about her captivity, she couldn't talk to Scott about it because it had been too invasive and raw and their relationship was still new and she'd never cared about anyone the way she'd come to care for him and she was afraid of opening up. She was scared that she would frighten him off. He had a history of running if things got too heavy or difficult. And she knew she had issues to spare. Part of the reason why her dates had never lasted more than a few weeks were because of her control and trust issues. She didn't trust anyone with her heart. The people she had loved and admired the most had abandoned her. Her mother not by choice but her father had. Sure he'd been dealing with guilt over the loss of her mother and he'd lied to her for so many years about that and even with his reasons, it would take time to accept that people really valued and loved her. That she wasn't an asset or an ally, she was a person and loved simply for existing, not for what she could bring to the table.

"We were standing at the fence, watching the fountain in front of the obelisk in Memorial Park," she said softly, watching him with eyes overly bright. "It was nearly midnight but we just needed to get out of the Triskelion. Away from eyes and ears and just be ourselves for five minutes. You gave me this really cute half smile, and you said, I didn't plan on falling for a girl so far out of my league but how could anyone plan against you?"

Scott brushed away the tear from her pale cheek. He worried she might be more hurt than she let on, so he put his arm around her and walked her over to the exit. "I love you, Hope. It started around the first time you put me on my ass and those feelings just kept building the more time we spent together. By the time we executed our first mission, and I saw those Hydra guys pull a gun on you, I knew I was gone. Cassie will always have first spot in my heart, she's my girl, but all that I have left… you're the only woman, I love."

Steve twitched a smile as he watched the shrinking duo leave. He was happy to hear they would get past this. He hadn't seen Hope when he'd been on the Skrull ship, but he'd learned later that she'd been in one of the lower levels in a experimentation lab. Like her father, the Pym Particles had altered her DNA. Her parents repeated exposure had affected their genetics but they were altered in different ways. For Hank it was his heart. The repeated size-changing had put a lot of strain on his heart and his body. He couldn't wear the suit and shrink without the risk of suffering a stroke.

Hope put on the suit for the first time, she found that she didn't need a regulator to control her shrinking ability. The Skrulls had been interested in her DNA, like the had with all the superhumans they had captured and interrogated her not only for intelligence but used her for experimentation. To heal, she need to know that she could talk about her experience and have someone support her no matter what. He had no doubt that her father had done his best, but having Scott beside her would do a world of good to bringing her out of the dark corner of her mind she must have taken refuge in to escape the memories of torment.

He turned his attention back to Bucky. His friend was still slumped where he'd fallen. Steve put his shield on his back. Uniform or not, he was grateful to Tony for retrieving the shield for him. It was Howard Stark's property first, and Fury was hard pressed to deny him that. He was tossing up the idea of wearing the suit again. He wasn't decided either way yet. Time would tell.

"Buck, whatever you're going through. I'm here for you," he said firmly. He put a hand on Bucky's warm shoulder and squeezed in a comforting gesture. It was then that he felt the slight tremble under his hand.

Steve crouched in front of him, the rest of the room's occupants had since limped or drifted out the door and they were alone. Well alone, but for whoever might have stayed up in the observation room.

"Talk to me," he urged, his eyebrows pinched in concern. James had never been big on showing weak emotion. Honestly, Steve could probably count on one hand the amount of times he'd seen Bucky tear up. "Whatever it is, you think Darcy saw…"

"I was having a nightmare," he said falling back to sit on his legs. "She was trying to wake me up," he explained despondently. "I had her in a choke hold in a second and I almost snapped her neck. She's not Asgardian, or a superhuman. She's mortal and fragile…" he trailed off, lost in his guilt.

Steve felt his gut roll. His mind took him back to the day he'd seen the bruises on Felicity's neck. Having felt Bucky's mechanically aided strength on many occasions himself, he could feel the phantom sensations. And yet he could only imagine what it must have been like for Darcy. "Is she okay?"

There was a hint of nervousness that he didn't manage to keep from his voice. He hadn't seen Darcy around for awhile. Jane was working with Reed Richards and Hank Pym on investigating the theory of a Microverse, a Quantum realm that existed between atoms and it meant that Darcy either stayed at the tower with Bucky, or in the rebuilt Baxter Building with Jane.

Bucky shook his head. "She won't talk to me. She won't take my calls or see me. I saw the look in her eyes when I woke up. She was terrified of me."

Steve let out a slow breath. "You got to work on controlling your strength and awareness. Your instincts tell you to use your best asset and that's your strong arm. You gotta reprogram that instinct around Darcy if you want to make it work. I did with Felicity. We didn't know she was stronger than average until after the bombing. At least I wasn't aware of it. I was always thinking about what would happen if I lost control. It's not impossible, you just gotta want it bad enough. You'll get there."

Bucky flinched at her name and hoped Steve hadn't noticed. He got to his feet and started for the door. "Not everyone's so lucky."

Steve straightened and frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

Bucky's lips twisted and he seemed to have an internal debate before he answered, "She's never been afraid of me." He sucked in a harsh breath and ran his hand through his shorter hair, these days he wore it in a similar style to his Howling Commando days. Darcy liked it. At least she had. He wondered if she liked anything about him now. "I never gave her any reason to trust me, or to like me. But she does, just a shame she loves you more," he said with a trace of bitterness.

Rattled, Steve watched Bucky leave. His words implied that he'd threatened Felicity more than once. But Bucky wouldn't, would he? What possible reason could he have? And especially not after he'd seen how they'd interacted the day he 'died' and how they'd been in each other's company since. Steve just couldn't comprehend it.

Troubled, he went to Maria and requested access to Bucky's S.H.I.E.L.D records for the time he was absent. He had a chuckle to himself over the failed Captain America recruits, until Maria had approached Bucky. The notation said it was on Felicity's recommendation. Yet he couldn't find any record of Felicity and Bucky interacting in a briefing or any formally documented capacity. Until he found the training room videos.

At first, they were playful, perhaps a bit overly competitive from Bucky's end, but there was no aggression. Bucky had always been a quick study and a good teacher, Steve had to smile at his techniques while instructing Felicity in the art of fencing. They baited and teased each other liked they'd been friends for years. He had to quell a sting of jealousy at their playful teasing. It wasn't flirting. He frowned. He actully wasn't sure what flirty Felicity looked like. He'd already been halfway in love with her after knowing her a week that any attention she gave him was a positive signal. She could be smiling at Bruce and give him the same smile but to him it meant more. He shook his head, he would never deny being the first to fall in love. He glared at the monitor. Her smile was friendly, innocent but he felt himself resenting that she gave it so freely to his best friend. His best friend who admitted to having non-platonic feelings for his wife, even though he knew Bucky would never act on them.

Then he found the recording that he'd been secretly fearful of, the one he had also hoped didn't exist. It must have been on a day when the ghosts of Hydra had won and the Bucky he knew faded into the darkness.

It looked like Bucky had returned from an assignment. He was still in the uniform.

The video only started when Bucky entered the room, but it looked like Natasha and Felicity had been training before that. Felicity smiled at him and offered to spar. Steve could read from Bucky's posture, even before he stepped up to the mat that he was angry. What had she been thinking? Steve would have let Bucky brood. He needed a day or two to stew before he would be ready to talk or punch it out with any kind of rationality. His wife was damn stubborn and too nurturing for her own good at times.

His heart had almost exploded in his chest at the forcity Bucky came at Felicity. He didn't know why the hell Natasha hadn't intervened straight away, but he'd seen her shoulder twitch, which indicated she almost had. Felicity had only just kept up her defense until to his amazement, she'd managed to out-think the obviously anger dulled Bucky.

Steve's relief was short lived when he saw Bucky's countermove. He almost reactively punched a hole through the monitor, instead he managed to just clip it and break the corner of the screen, causing the image to distort and look all the more horrific. Property damage seemed like a non-issue as he saw Bucky with his hand on Felicity's throat.

Again he saw Natasha move, but Felicity waved her off. Then he understood why. Bucky hadn't used his artificial arm. He was fighting his instincts. Felicity believed in him. Believed he could get past the bloodlust rage and a few short but nervewrecking seconds later, her faith was rewarded.

Steve reminded himself to calm, this was in the past. They'd both obviously walked away from this moment. The vein at his temple pulsed with aching force and the cords in his neck threatening to close his airways.

He knew from Bucky's comments that this event still weighed on his mind. Steve sat there completely immobilized when it dawned on him that Felicity was already pregnant when this had happened. Everyone had lost their minds. Fear and hurt taking over, he logged out of his access and only barely reined in his temper from smashing the entire system to dust.

He wasn't surprised to find Bucky at the house when he came storming in. Felicity was working on something, her tech and her paperwork spread over the kitchen table while Bucky was making tea at the breakfast counter.

"You threw her down like she was a test dummy. Your lack of control will get someone killed, Buck! Forget trying to make up with Darcy, until you get a handle on your anger, you have no business being in the field or in training."

Bucky flinched under Steve's anger and his stormy expression before he realized where this was coming from. Honestly, he'd expected this for a long time. Nothing went on in the Tower or anywhere within a stone's throw of S.H.I.E.L.D let alone under their roof without them hearing or having a record of it. "You're not telling me anything I don't already know," he said mildly, continuing to make tea.

Felicity, at a total loss as to what brought on the outburst and Steve's completely wrung out composure, put down her welding iron and stood up from her chair. "Steve, you need to take a breath. James is doing his best. You can't undo years of conditioning overnight-"

"Don't defend him!" Steve said grabbing her shoulders. "He could have killed you. You could have lost the baby," he cried, his voice breaking and his face crumpling in front of her wide-eyed shock.

Felicity held his arms and she could feel how upset he was. His muscles were twitching like crazy. She forced them over to the sofa and ran her hands over the sides of his face, hushing him in a gentle manner. "We're okay. I know I took risks. Probably more than I should have, but I was told keeping up physically was good for me and the pregnancy. He didn't hurt me, Steve. I know he wouldn't. Never again," she said softly.

Steve clung to her and pressed his face against her throat, feeling her strong, steady pulse. He couldn't speak. His stomach was still in knots and his brain a total mess of chaotic fear, doubt and still no small amount of anger. Mostly over the fact that he hadn't been there.

"I should go," Bucky said quietly.

Felicity turned to him. "No," she said firmly. "We never talked about this all together and we're doing it now. James, I forgave you a long time ago for what you did. I pushed you, I knew what was at stake, so I wasn't totally innocent there. What happened in the training room was an accident. A misunderstanding. That said, I think you should get counselling. Someone outside S.H.I.E.L.D," she said with a pointed look when he opened his mouth in protest. It was a mandatory part of their recruitment to have a psych-evaluation. Sometimes she thought that doctor should be de-licensed, if they were deemed a suitable asset for whatever determined purpose, Felicity would bet money that any psychological concerns would be swept under the rug. "I recommend Charles Xavier. He's a busy man, he's the best there is and if he can help a man like Logan, he can help anyone."

Bucky nodded slowly. He knew of Charles. He remembered when the man had made himself a target of Hydra in the 80s by freeing mutants under Hydra control. They'd written him off as too dangerous to attempt to eliminate. His influence and resources too extensive, it risked triggering too much backlash if they failed to take him out properly. Charles' interest were only in mutants so they'd been more sneaky about their operations and both parties seemed to have ignored each other for the most part.

Felicity turned her attention on Steve. "We have to trust each other. We don't always get things right the first time. There's no more sparing for me. Hasn't been since I've had trouble seeing my feet," she said with a self conscious smile. She planted his hands on her extended belly. "We're fine."

Steve felt his little girl, they'd finally had that scan done and it had been as mind-blowing as he'd thought it would be. He'd been in danger of asphyxiating before Felicity squeezed his hand and he'd calmed down, remembering to breathe. Seeing his daughter sucking her fingers and roll around for the first time and knocked him for a six. There was a purposeful nudge against his hand and it plastered an enormous grin on his face. The tightness around his heart gave way and he let out a short laugh under the tide of relief that came under the evidence of Felicity and their growing child's health.

He glanced up at Bucky and found the other man watching them, his eyes suspiciously wet and a slight twitch to his lips. Like he wanted to smile but had forgotten how.

Steve got up and put his arms around his oldest friend. He hugged Bucky tightly and clapped him on the back. "My instincts still need work," he confessed openly." He pulled back but braced Bucky's metal arm with his, in a deliberate show of acceptance. "She trusts you. I trust you, Buck. Don't let them win. Someday soon I'll show you just how much you mean to us, brother."

Bucky felt his lips thin as he battled the riot of emotions boiling inside him. "How can I ask her to accept how messed up I am?" he asked, looking at Felicity. Her easy, comforting smile broke the control he had over his tear ducts and he felt wetness on his cheeks.

"If she's the one, James, you won't have to ask."

::: ::: :::

Bucky stood inside the elevator and pushed the intercom for her floor. Felicity had called ahead for him and the droid at reception had let him through the lobby to the elevators.

"It's me," he said, almost having to cough to get his throat to work. He centered his balance quickly as the elevator started to ascend.

She answered the door after his second knock and he didn't miss the warning look and show of solidarily Jane showed her best friend by hovering in the background where he could see her.

"Darcy, I'm so sorry I hurt you. It was never my intention and you have every right to walk away and want nothing to do with me, but I'm going to get help. Give me a chance?" He looked at her imploringly, his hands at open but reaching out for her but keeping a safe distance, just in case she felt threatened.

She watched him with her big brown eyes and he noticed just a hint of black not covered by her silk scarf that she had loosely wrapped around her throat. He winced inwardly and glanced away. She hadn't moved from her spot, half hidden by the door, as though using it as a shield between them.

Bucky hug his head and nodded slowly. "Okay. Well, I'm due to ride up to Xavier's School tomorrow, so I'll be in town. Or if you ever want to drop by the Tower, you're welcome any time," he said his voice hopeful. He turned away and pushed the call button. He turned back to her after a moment and was almost barrelled over by the force of her hug.

"You had me at Darcy," she croaked softly, her voice barely a whisper.

Bucky caught her and set her on her feet, with a gentle human hand he brushed her cheek tenderly. "Aw, love, don't talk," his own voice failed him to hear how badly he'd unintentionally hurt her. He touched his forehead to hers.

"Usually, the guy brings flowers, or chocolate, something…" she whispered, her face teasing as she played with his collar.

Bucky fished in his back pocket. He flashed the tickets at her. "I needed you to let me up first," he said with a cheeky grin. One that he knew she loved. She had confessed repeatedly, she was a sucker for his pearly whites. "How's tickets to Yankee Stadium to see them play the last game against Baltimore?"

Darcy snatched them out of his hands, and then threw her arms around his neck and jumped up and down, silently squealing with joy. "I love you, you're my favorite person," she said in a gravelly whisper.

Bucky smiled again but less brilliantly. He doubt she meant it the way he wanted. They'd only been on a handful of dates and the one time she stayed over, he'd nearly killed her. He closed his eyes in shame but they snapped open at the soft touch of her full pouty beautiful lips against the corner of his mouth. "What was that for?" he asked quietly. "No, don't," he said putting a finger to her lips. "Stop talking. I want you to get better. I like the sound of your voice."

"And that's how I know you're a total dork," Jane interjected, her arms folded over her chest from where she stood framing to open doorway. "Darcy can sell ice to the Eskimos just so they'd get some quiet. Come on in, it's almost time for lunch. I'll play interpretor and we'll actually get our girl to stop trying to talk when she shouldn't be," Jane said with a pointed glare at Darcy.

Darcy stuck out her tongue and glared right back. She took Bucky's hand and didn't let him politely decline lunch, since his visit was impromptu. She knew him well enough to know he wouldn't want to impose.

Bucky couldn't be more grateful that his girl was a take charge type. He was happy to let her lead, and relieved she was brave and cared enough about him to give him a chance.

He thought Felicity's faith in love was naive and idealistic but he was happy to be proven wrong. With the right person. You didn't have to ask.


	20. Lollipops

Thor cracked a bemused grin. Everywhere he looked while he'd made his way to the lower levels of the building, people had a small white stick poking out of their mouths.

In the briefing room, he noticed that Maria tuned an ignorant ear to the smacking and sucking noises going on while Director Fury started to develop an eye twitch.

"Sorry to interrupt, Commander Hill, what it the sans hell is going on around here? Everyone's eating candy like we've hit Halloween early. Did I fall into an alternate dimension? Since when did it become standard procedure to suck on a lollipop?"

Natasha pulled the sucker out of her mouth. "It's product testing, sir," she deadpanned and returned to observing the map of the HYDRA compound Maria had up on display.

Clint fought a snicker while Steve just shifted in his chair, a hint of pink creeping up his neck.

"And what does this have to do with you, Cap?" Fury demanded, not missing the way the Captain had seemed to shrink where he sat, trying and failing to have a look of no complicity to the goings on despite being candy-free.

"Ah…sir, it wasn't my idea but there's no harm and..."

"What he can't articulate is that Stark Pharmaceuticals is testing a new line of nutritional pops. We've done kids but since our target market group are adults, specifically females, and we needed market research."

"So you decided to use my people?" Fury asked, his eyebrow hiking.

"Are we your people? I thought the Avengers were an independently funded group," Stark quipped in his usual guileless way. Who he thought he was fooling was anyone's guess. Anyone who knew him, wouldn't buy his innocent act. Tony was about as pure as the snow in the King Penguin exhibit after feeding time. Thor wondered if there was anyone clueless enough on Midgard that would believe Tony's feigned innocence.

"And you all volunteered?" Nick asked his voice betraying his disbelief and exasperation.

Maria's lip twitched as she tried to suppress her humor over Fury's reaction. She reached into her jacket pocket and set a bunch of lollipops on the table in front of him. "They're rich in vitamin C and iron, not the minerally derived kind. Felicity said you'd probably like the raspberry flavor best since you like those raspberry ketone drops she gets for you."

Nick glared at his XO for outing the fact that he had dietary aids to help him keep in shape. He wasn't as young as all these newbies and his age was starting to slow him down. Not that he wanted any of them clued into that fact. He'd find a way to put the smack down on all their behinds if they tried to get cute with him about his advancing years. "Stark, test in your own time. Cap, tell your wife to expect a phone call."

Steve reddened a shade more. Felicity hadn't exactly told Maria why she'd brought back a suitcase of dietary gummies from her last trip to London, only that they weren't hers. Being surrounded by people with too much curiosity and plenty of sleuthing ability, Maria seemed to have deduced their intended recipient all on her own.

When Felicity's latest blood test showed that she was low on iron, she bemoaned the fact that she would not remember to take her tablets at the right time and what's more, most of the supplements available smelled terrible or were as good as horse pills and the mineralized water prompted a swift and unwanted reunion with the porcelain goddess.

On one of her regular organic produce sourcing expeditions, she came across children's Vitamin C Pops and wondered why they couldn't make an equivalent for iron supplements. Pepper had been interested and Felicity had taken the idea and run with it. Experimenting with all kinds of plant, spice and fruit concentrate combinations. They'd only taken a week come up with several viable options and gather a volunteer test pool. The samples passed the kid taste test with flying colors but getting adults to try a mineral supplement dressed as a lollipop had been slower off the mark, so Felicity had gone to Natasha and Maria for help. This was the result. It had met general food safety standards but for FDA approval they needed a variety of test studies to become a marketable, profitable enterprise for Stark Industries to roll it out on a large scale.

"This violates our food and beverage regulations…" Nick fumed.

"It's not gum!" Tony interjected, having read the S.H.I.E.L.D manual. He liked to know all the rules so he could exploit any and all loopholes.

Nick bristled. "Let me clarify it for you, Mr. Stark, there is to be no consumption of any food items or beverages during briefings, period."

Natasha removed the lollipop with a wet popped and skilfully tossed it into the trash bin by the door.

Clint rewrapped his and put it into his jacket. Steve calmly folded his hands on the table, revealing he didn't have anything to declare.

Tony, defiant and resolute, crunched his candy between his teeth and then tucked the used stick in his vest pocket.

Thor watched them all, highly amused. "Candy. I don't believe I have partaken in such treats since I was a boy. You must allow me to have a case of these sweets," he said studying the lollipops Fury had refused to pocket, "And I will share them with my friends upon my return to Asgard."

Bruce chose that moment to wonder through the door, three sticks hanging out of his mouth, haphazardly stuffed dossiers tucked under one arm, while he scribbled notes on his tablet as he walked. "Sorry, I'm late," he said, managing somehow to squash all three lollipops into one cheek so he could talk.

Fury ran a hand over his face, and nodded at Maria tiredly. "I came back for this? Banner, you were meant to be here an hour ago."

Bruce blinked owlishly and glanced at his watch. "Ah… wow, I overslept?" he said that out loud like he didn't quite believe it himself. He was a serial insomniac, had been for years. Partially due to the fact that if he lost control, he became a raging green monster and these guys thought it was a good idea to cart him around on a regular basis in flying tin cans. This was his first week on solid ground and he was becoming a cantankerous bastard, Tony's words not his. Natasha had unceremoniously stuffed two lollipops in his mouth and when he'd made to take them out, the glare she'd given him, had him lowering his hand. That had been last night, obviously. This morning, he'd gone about his routine, not once checking the time, and unconsciously stuffed a few more lollipops in his mouth that he'd found on the dining table where he'd eaten breakfast which consisted of an oatmeal and date muffin. Obviously it hadn't been so much unconscious, as his other consciousness prompting that action.

Tony smirked at him widely. "Tryptophan's working. Let me guess, the Big Guy likes the Super Cinnamon Apple Blast?"

Bruce nodded, his eyes unusually clear and bright. Strangely enough, he was late and everyone was staring but he didn't give a crap. He felt awesome. Who knew that something as small as a dietary boost could improve his mental and physical state. Obviously the national adult standard was far below what a man/Hulk standard needed to be. Trailing on that thought, he could hardly wait to run some tests.

"Have a seat, Dr. Banner," Maria said nodding to a vacant chair next to Clint. Who looked mightily disconcerted by the prospect of being seated next to a sunny Bruce. "Moving on, shall we? Agenda Item 3. If you could turn to page 41 in your briefing packet."


	21. Ultrasound

Felicity urged him to sit while she changed into the gown, but he was too nervous to sit. This was her first appointment with a fully certified OB-GYN and they were going to find out if his gut instincts were right.

She climbed onto the bed and sat up with her bare legs hanging over the side of the table while they waited for the doctor to return.

The doctor came in and wheeled over a machine, then asked Felicity to lie back. He put a small sheet over her legs when he asked her to lift the gown and Steve had to hide his hands behind his back so Felicity wouldn't noticed his clenched fists. He knew the man was only doing his job, but he had his hands all over his wife's stomach and dangerously close to an area he had no business being...Or he did, damn it. That's why they were here after all. Why couldn't they have found a woman doctor again? Now he was beginning to understand why his father never went along on his mother's check ups. This was just inviting trouble. Yet, at the same time, he wanted to be here. He wanted to be a part of everything. He didn't want to miss a single moment. He'd missed enough.

"So you're measuring about 26 weeks. A bit bigger than your notes but looking at Daddy over there, I'm not all that surprised," The obstetrician joked good-naturedly.

Felicity broke into a wide smile, her eyes twinkling at the not so secret knowledge of her own gene-power when she looked at the doctor. "Seems Mom's side isn't so small either. Well, just as long as this one doesn't put me through a labor like I did for my mom, we'll be fine."

"Can't give you any guarantees unfortunately," the doctor replied in all seriousness. "But let's make sure Mom and baby are healthy and we'll go from there. Any complaints? Sore muscles, spasms, cramping? No? Any urinary tingling. No history of cystitis? Have you had any spotting?"

Felicity shook her head in answer to all the doctor's questions bar the last and Steve had a nervous flip in his stomach until he noticed that she looked unconcerned, allowing him to relax marginally. "I did early on, but it was never a brilliant red and I was told that, it can happen in some pregnancies all the way through, around your normal period time? It's why I didn't suspect anything right away."

"Yes, some women do have a very light period. It's never an arterial red though. If you have anything like that, get to hospital right away. I know you're not local. Have you given any thought to your birthing plans yet?"

Felicity nodded. "I'd like a home birth, if you don't consider us a high risk. Laura had a homebirth, with a midwife."

Laura had been the one who had recommended this country physician. He'd been her doctor for her two youngest. Their eldest having been born when she and Clint still lived in the city.

"We let's take a look at junior." The physician got Felicity to lower her gown and turned up the part of the sheet covering her legs.

Steve looked on confused as the doctor retrieved a strange looking device and squirted clear gel all over it.

"This is warming gel but it'll still feel a little strange, and the pressure might be a little uncomfortable on your cervix and bladder but we won't be too long and you can use the bathroom," he said with a genial smile.

Steve put two and two together and the chair he was sitting in gave a high pitched whine. The man had this alien looking piece of equipment that looked suspiciously like a vibrator on steroids, though he would vehemently deny knowing what either of those things were if asked - damn Tony and his unwanted education to sex in the 21st century - he watched on, making a visible effort to keep his expression neutral.

Felicity glanced at him and obviously read his anxiety. She reached for his hand but also looked a little confused herself and lowered her knees. "I thought I only needed a full bladder for a transverse ultrasound?"

The doctor pinked, looking flustered. "Yes, I prefer to do both to get the clearest images. You're absolutely right, we should to the other scan first so you don't have to be uncomfortable for so long." He wheeled across a different machine and fixed the sheet to cover her legs again and patiently waited for Felicity to reveal her tummy.

Steve let out a breath not realizing he'd been holding it the whole time, and Felicity squeezing his hand back had been immeasurably helpful in getting him to realize his pent up tension. The tub chair hadn't been able to take his grip but he wasn't apologizing for that.

The image on the second monitor above Felicity started to swirl and grey, and soon he could see the shape of a baby. Their baby. She was moving her mouth, and it looked like she was playing with her fingers. He could see the shape of her tiny head and even amplified it was smaller than the palm of his hand. Her perfect little fingers flared as she flexed and played with an imaginary stimulus. He was in awe.

The bubble of euphoria rippled but didn't burst when the doctor finished highlighting and pointing out certain areas and switched off the monitor feed, bringing them back to the present. "Everything looks good and healthy. Do you want to know the sex?"

"Yes," they said in unison.

"You're having a girl. Strong heart, and she's going to be a big one. I'd like you to have a GCT test and also check your mineral levels. We can do that today or you can make another appointment if you don't have time." The doctor wheeled back the other machine, that Steve had dubbed the Unmentionable Investigative Scope, in the safety of his own mind. "Oh right, I promised a bathroom break."

The doctor paused in his action, the ominous and disturbing attachment poised in a manner that reminded him far too much of that single condensed X-rated info-mercial he'd been unwillingly subjected to. Stark had taken it upon himself to put together a short video to educate him in the courting and mating practices of the 21st century. Even though he'd protested that he didn't need to education - he knew how to read, thank you very much - supermarket magazine covers were enlightening enough. Tony had hit play and he'd seen and heard 20 seconds of things he could never unwatch.

Steve felt the vein under his eye twitch again. "Darlin', I think Bruce has been doing a fine job taking care of you two. We really don't need another scan. Or blood," he said to her with one eyebrow arched in a pointed way. Nobody was sticking his wife with anything while he was around. The good bubble he'd been in for the past ten minutes had just burst again.

Felicity patted his arm as she sat up. She'd traumatized him enough for one day and she agreed with him that no one outside the team should have access to either of their blood. "Thank you, doctor. But we'll have to cut this visit short. If I could have the scanned data files please."

The doctor flustered under the weight of their united commanding presence and pushed a few buttons on the machine. "I'll get the nurses to put the data on a drive for you…"

"I can do it myself, just point me to where your servers are," Felicity said pulling on her pants under her gown. Stepping into her shoes, she grabbed her bag and headed out the door in search of a bathroom first, and then for the server room. Leaving Steve alone with the doctor.

"So did you always do internals?"

The doctor smoothed down his tie. His fingers twitched nervously. "I know who you are, sir and I'd be stupid to attempt any kind of misconduct. It would be completely unprofessional, disrespectful and discredit me in my field of medicine. And if your wife is not comfortable with it, we don't have to do one. From what I could see, the child is absolutely perfect."

"Good answer," Steve all but growled.


	22. Communication

Summary: Nothing good ever came from eavesdropping yet in the age of digital surveillance, there's no escaping it. Conversations and embarrassing reveals proves to be a hazard whilst being surrounded by said technology. Which in turn prompts a surprise arrival.

* * *

The tool box he'd been rummaging around in, spilled sockets and wrenches over the table, one of them accidentally typing seemingly random commands that had the speakers blaring out Darcy's voice in surround sound.

 _"I had the best treatment yesterday. I honestly feel like a new woman."_

Tony opened his mouth, his small screw driver bouncing harmlessly to the floor when he realized what had just occured. He was unwittingly privy to the girl's catchup, gossip-fest going on upstairs.

He saw Rhodey and Bucky through the glass and about to enter the door but he was too far from the keyboard to turn it off. It would only occur to him later that he should have just asked JARVIS to cut the feed and save himself from the death stare Bucky sent him and everything else that followed.

He was a self assured, mostly honest man and he had no trouble sharing his concerns or fears with anyone who really cared to listen. Especially those to those he counted as friends. So it was with no hesitation that he admitted quite unrepentantly, "Barnes is freaking me out, Rhodey. Why is he in here?" The Howling Commando, Winter Soldier assassin gave him chills and there was no way he'd ever stay alone with the guy, anywhere. He fancied breathing too much to ever accidentally let his mouth run away from him and end up on Bucky's bad side.

 _"Treatment? I thought you had a facial with Jane last week?"_

It was Pepper speaking and Tony felt immediately less anxious. Only she could do that. Set him at ease. They'd been a team for so long that he trusted her implicitly and even if she was mad, he knew what to say to talk her around.

 _"Oh this is a different beauty treatment. If you haven't had a steam exfoliation, I highly recommend it. Here feel."_

Rhodey shot Tony an uncomfortable look with a raised eyebrow. Beside him Bucky was shifting in clear agitation. Just what was his girlfriend asking them to feel, Tony was sure he read that expression right. "I'm giving him the tour of the place. Pepper added four new floors for the Avengers use, plus you said you had something for me-Why are we listening to the ladies upstairs?"

 _"Oh wow, that's so soft. That's from one treatment? Do you do anything in between? I mean I loofah everyday and I'm pretty sure my skin's never felt like that."_

Felicity sounded envious and off course Cap chose that moment to join the trio.

"Stark, I need to to take a look at the shield. It's been giving off a faint trace of energy, and it's never felt like that before... Why are you listening to my wife?" His disapproving tone and the immediate scowl he gave Tony had the man in question backing up in surrender.

"It was an accident," he protested.

 _"I've always loofah'd and if I can't reach, I get Steve to do it."_

The tips of Cap's ears turned red and Tony couldn't fight the smirk that immediately sprung to his face. "And I'm sure that's such an odious task too."

"Stark," he growled in warning.

 _"You have great skin, Felicity. I'm sure you'd come up glowing. If you do go, ask for Alexi and get a décolletage scrub."_

 _"A say what?"_ Maria spluttered.

She sounded both taken aback and intrigued, as though wondering if she'd heard right. Steve and Bucky shared a look, wondering the exact same thing.

 _"Décolletage, you know, neck and boobage, the valley between the mounds of womanhood."_

Felicity chuckled at Darcy's elaboration, while all the men merely shifted uneasily and stared each other down. Steve look morally conflicted, Bucky looked like he wanted to break something, Rhodey looked like he'd sucked on a lemon and Tony was morbidly curious, really a perpetual state of existence for him. Still no one made any attempt to mute the audio feed.

"The girls don't know that anyone is listening to this," Steve pointed out, his posture betraying his reluctance to leave, even though the furrow between his brows and the tick in his jaw spoke of how much he didn't like what they were doing.

"There's the door," Tony quipped impatiently, shushing the man with a narrowed glare when he looked about to protest again.

Steve was about to snap at Tony for his blatant disrespect but Bucky elbowing him in the ribs diverted his attention. He shot a look of hurt betrayal at his friend before he realized Darcy was talking again.

 _"It felt amazing. Sure it was a little weird at first but they use this micro bead scrub and you can barely see anything through all that steam. And you felt my arm. Imagine that everywhere."_

All eyes shot to Bucky, who glared at the floor.

Tony dared to ask. "Everywhere?"

The look Bucky gave him, despite having the theoretical ability to send a better man crying for the hills, didn't deter the gifted mechanic in the slightest. In for a pound as the saying went, "Do they do you know, the top of the.." he made a crude motion toward his behind and made a v shape with his hands. "Between... Usually that's the best place to tell a woman's age. Unless they bleach and Brazilian wax, then you're pretty much screwed."

No one but Steve even saw Bucky move. Honestly, Steve had been ready for something like this to happen the moment he understood where this conversation was going.

Steve got in Bucky's path and both of them went crashing through the desk. But Bucky wasn't done. In the process of trying to wrestle free from Steve's grip to get at Tony, they knocked into another workstation, activating a suit of armor that Tony had been working on. Taking on a life of its own, parts started flying all over the lab. One clocking Tony in the head, knocking him out cold. Rhodey threw himself to the floor to avoid the same treatment.

Hearing a loud commotion, his lab adjoining Tony's, Bruce came to investigate. One look had him wrongly assessing the situation. Assuming Bucky to be under some kind of mind control, he Hulked out and barrelled through the door, swatting flying equipment like they were pesky insects. He yanked Bucky off Steve and threw him across the room.

Steve got up quickly and moved to intervene before things could get even more out of hand. However in the same moment, the Hulk was still moving and he had yanked Bucky off his feet, preparing to smash him to the floor.

"Hulk, stand down." Steve kept a respectable, non-threatening distance but keeping his shield at the ready, suddenly very grateful that he had brought it down in the first place.

Bucky was beyond angry now, why was it always everyone's first assumption that he was the threat? There was a indestructible rage monster whose head only just cleared the ceiling, standing only two floors below where they women were. In particular, his human girlfriend who didn't stand a chance against the Hulk. He used his metal arm to punch Hulk in the face with all the force he could muster. The creature dropped him in surprise and staggered back a step.

Steve knew they were in trouble the moment Bucky attacked the Hulk and took stock of the situation. "Bucky, get out of here now."

The tone Steve used was his no nonsense Captain giving orders voice and Bucky pulled a disgruntled face but complied immediately.

As soon as Bucky had cleared the exit, Steve ordered JARVIS to lock down the tower. He didn't want the girls coming to investigate. And he wanted to make it as difficult as possible for the Hulk to move around anywhere. Not that a couple doors or walls would stop him for more than a second. Steve only hoped that he didn't decide to smash any load bearing ones.

"Hulk, stop. You need to listen, please. No one is trying to hurt you," he pleaded. The red hue in the Hulk's eyes when he turned his gaze on him, didn't give him much comfort.

"Stark down. Cap is hurt."

Steve felt the corner of his lip which was bleeding and his arm didn't feel so hot, he'd pinched a nerve somewhere. "Just a scratch," he said quickly. "Tony knocked himself out. You've seen how he works. He's makes his own hazards. The man needs to come with a warning. You know we have this under control. Everyone needs to just dial things back here. The girls are upstairs, you need to calm down."

Obviously it was the wrong thing to say. The Hulk looked at those same stairs that Bucky had just torn up and barrelled right through the locked door.

"Aw crap," Steve said making to tear after him.

Rhodey was only one step behind him. "You just had to go and say that."

Upstairs, Felicity had felt the first vibration of something hitting a wall hard. Maria noticed her expression and it seems Natasha was instantly alert too. Something was going on.

"JARVIS, is the tower secure? Threat analysis?"

 _"The Hulk is in the building. Mr. Rogers is attempting to subdue him. His probability of success is 67%."_

Natasha and Felicity shared a look. "Those aren't good odds."

Felicity awkwardly got off the couch, her stomach was slowing her down even more these days. She had to scoot to the edge and then push herself up.

Pepper who had been sitting closest immediately put her hand on her elbow restricting any further attempt to leave the lounge area. "You might be most resilient out of all of us, but right now you're also the most vulnerable. If anything happened to you and the baby..." She trailed off her voice thick with concern.

Felicity knew she was right. While she's always been able to break through the Hulk's fear and rage, she couldn't take the risk he might hurt her, even unintentionally.

"You need to stay here," Natasha said in complete agreement. "Everyone should." Obviously she didn't include herself in that statement since she was going for the elevator.

Another impact cause the floor to rock and Natasha jabbed at the elevator button with no response.

A loud roar sounded and glass exploded everywhere as the Hulk burst through the plate glass windows.

Maria's face shifted into a stern mask of cool professionalism. "JARVIS, operational override. Voice Print Maria Hill. Code Word Balderdash. Felicity, bunker everyone in Tony's panic room. Pepper will show you the way. Natasha?" She scouted for the redheaded super spy, and froze to see she had put herself between everyone and the enormous, imposing figure that was the Hulk.

"Hulk, stop," Natasha said firmly.

Somehow at that moment Bucky had dropped into the room from where, no one knew, probably the trash chute or the heating vents. He grabbed Darcy and put himself in front of her like a human shield backing her to the elevator that had opened to reveal the battered looking Steve and the Iron Patriot.

"Everyone freeze," Natasha growled when she saw the Hulk shift to aggressive mode at the newcomers.

Steve clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth and looked worriedly at Felicity who was caught in the corridor leading to the bedrooms much too far for him to get to without barrelling through several of his friends first and possibly aggravating the Hulk further. She could take care of herself but he knew she trusted the Hulk's control more than he did, and he couldn't help but be concerned she would someday regret that faith. He saw Hulk as an instinctual creature with very little impulse control. In Steve's opinion, the Hulk only recognized threats and non threats. His face and body language right now, Steve wouldn't be surprised if he perceived everyone in degrees of danger to his freedom and a threat to his person.

Natasha's voice softened a lot and she stretched her hand out slowly, palm up to prove that she had no weapon. "We're safe. Whatever happened downstairs, you can tell me. Nobody's going anywhere, nobody is going to get hurt."

"He hurt Cap. He hurt Tony," he said in his deep, gravelly voice. Glaring and baring his teeth in Bucky's direction.

"Ah guys," Felicity said, her voice suspiciously wobbly. "I think baby's coming."

"But we've still got two weeks," Steve protested, his voice climbing several octaves.

"Well I'm pretty sure I didn't just pee," Felicity said with obvious nervousness.

All eyes went to the pinkish puddle growing in size at her feet.

Hulk let out a very odd noise a cross between a squeak and a grunt before he seemed to shrink at a rate faster than anyone of them had seen before. Natasha threw the blanket from the back of the couch over Bruce's shifting shoulders blades.

"Maria, get my medical bag from my room. Pepper, we need plenty of hot water and towels. Tash, help put Liss in Barnes' room. Cap, you might want to stop panicking and have someone fetch Felicity's birthing bag, baby's coming," Bruce ordered, his voice was not quite his normal tenor and still had a growl edge, no one argued.

Steve fished his keys out of his jeans. "We keep it in the trunk," he said shakily, pressing the keys into Rhodey's waiting hands. "Felicity has had it ready, since she hit 32 weeks."

"Smart woman. Always prepared."

It was almost twenty four hours later that a red, flailing and loud baby girl made her appearance.

Bucky had been in and out running for food for the birth support crew, which included Natasha, Bruce and Steve and he'd seen his bed absorb all manner of fluids. He was never sleeping in it again. They were burning it. He didn't utter a word of complaint though. He felt partially responsible for Felicity going into early labor. Bruce seemed to sense his unease and looked up from where he'd been doing a final check on Felicity's blood pressure. She hadn't lost enough to warrant a transfusion, but she'd passed out multiple times after they'd taken her to and from the bathroom while she'd been in labor. He was being thorough and erring on the side of caution. Felicity and Steve both wanted this done without outside intervention but if they needed a qualified OBGYN, they had one on standby. Clint offered to pick him up by Quinjet if the situation called for it. Tony and Pepper were all for it, saying they'd write it up as a employee emergency, technically it was. Felicity was still consulting on a casual basis for Stark Industries.

"If anyone's to blame for physical harm and property damage it's me. With the situations we face on a regular basis, I should have asked. I put everyone in the tower at risk by letting my fear and anger loose."

Felicity grabbed his hand as he moved to pull away, guilt written all over his face. She held his wrist and looked between both Bucky and Bruce pointedly. "We're all okay, it was a misunderstanding. Although from what I might have overheard Steve say to Natasha earlier, if anyone's taking responsibility for the misunderstanding, it's Tony. I would steer clear of him for the next few days if you don't fancy being collateral damage."

Bruce snorted a laugh. "He brings it on himself." His comment even managed to get Bucky to twitch a small smile.

"Hey, Bucky, stop idling and get over here and meet your god daughter."

The look of surprise and wonder on his best friend's face was priceless. He had a thought that he wished he had a camera when a flash went off in the corner of his eye.

"Got it," Felicity said triumphantly.

Steve turned back and pressed a kiss to her sweaty temple. "Always ready."

"Born ready," she quipped. "A little like this princess. She couldn't wait anymore. 12 days early and she's absolutely perfect. Certainly nothing wrong with her lungs or her muscles," she said of the vice grip, their baby had on her finger, which was purpling at the end. Steve pried her tiny fingers open and offered his own to give Felicity a break.

Bucky slowly came closer and Felicity lifted her arms to offer up her swaddled bundle. "Are you sure?"

"She won't break," Felicity teased and all but thrust her into Bucky's arms. Steve was a little more reserved and made sure that his arms were properly positioned and his little girl's head and neck supported on a good angle before he drew his hands away.

"What did you call her?" he asked his voice soft and suspiciously hoarse.

"Sarah. Sarah Rogers," Steve answered proudly.

Felicity nodded in agreement, her eyes filling with tears as she watched Bucky and Steve looking at her daughter with total adoration. If this kept up she was going to have her work cut out for her as the disciplinarian parent. Barely minutes new to the world and she had two of the most battled hardened, most feared and respected heroes of their time hanging on her every breath.

Steve managed to tear his gaze away from the tender scene next to him and looked at his exhausted but never more beautiful wife. He brushed his fingers tenderly over Felicity's cheek. "My girls. My best girls," his said voice hitching.

They had everything they'd ever dared to dream for. They were a family. They were safe and surrounded by loved ones as they welcomed their baby girl into the world. It didn't get better than this. **  
**

* * *

 **Notes:** And after a hiatus due to a major creative and discouraging road block, the numerous faves and lovely requests for more I managed to get this thing done. Thank you all for your support and your patience. We made it.


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